Washington - President Barack Obama formally launched his re-election
campaign Monday, urging grass-roots supporters central to his first
White House run to mobilize again to protect the change he’s brought
over the past two years.
The official start of his second White House bid comes 20 months
before the November 2012 election.
“We’ve always known that lasting change wouldn’t come quickly or
easily. It never does,” the Democrat said in an e-mail to supporters
announcing his candidacy. “But as my administration and folks across the
country fight to protect the progress we’ve made — and make more — we
also need to begin mobilizing for 2012, long before the time comes for
me to begin campaigning in earnest.”
He told them he was filing the necessary paperwork with the Federal
Election Commission, and directed them to his new campaign website where
a launch video featured clips from supporters talking about their
continued backing of the Democrat.
“I don’t agree with Obama on everything but I respect him and I trust
him,” Ed from North Carolina says, delivering what’s certain to become a
key part of the president’s pitch as he tries to re-energize liberals
who have criticized some of his policies and independents who have fled
from him in his first term.
Obama’s announcement comes just weeks after the commander in chief
directed U.S. military operations to a third major warfront, Libya, and
days after the post-recession economy showed more signs of a rebound
with a report that the still high unemployment rate had fallen to 8.8
percent.
Widely expected, the procedural step of launching a campaign was
planned to coincide with the second fundraising quarter of the year.
Filing paperwork will allow the president to begin raising money in
earnest for what advisers hope will be a record-breaking haul of more
than $1 billion for his campaign, which is based in Chicago. That begins
this month; he’s slated to visit major money venues of Chicago, New
York and Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
Obama faces no primary challenger.
On the other side, the race for the GOP presidential nomination is
just getting under way; more than a dozen Republicans are considering
seeking the chance to challenge Obama in the next election. Only a few
have taken the initial steps toward a candidacy, though several more are
expected to this month. It’s a wide open race with no clear
front-runner.
Nevertheless, Obama said he’s not taking anything for granted.
“We’re doing this now because the politics we believe in does not
start with expensive TV ads or extravaganzas, but with you — with people
organizing block-by-block, talking to neighbors, co-workers, and
friends. And that kind of campaign takes time to build,” he said in the
e-mail.
“So even though I’m focused on the job you elected me to do, and the
race may not reach full speed for a year or more, the work of laying the
foundation for our campaign must start today,” Obama added. He directed
them to the new red, white and blue website for what he said was “a
campaign that’s farther-reaching, more focused, and more innovative than
anything we’ve built before.”
The website features Obama’s new campaign logo — 2012 with the rising
sun in the background, a version of his 2008 campaign logo — and
announces that the campaign is kicking off.
“We’re opening up offices, unpacking boxes, and starting a
conversation with supporters like you to help shape our path to victory,
and this is where you say you’re in,” it says, urging people to
organize and donate.
The video is a montage of testimonials from a demographically diverse
group of backers who intend to stay involved in this campaign.
“It needs to reflect the changes that we’ve seen in the last
two-and-a-half years,” says Katherine from Colorado. “Then we had an
underdog senator. Nobody thought that he had a chance. And now he’s the
president.”
Gladys from Nevada adds: “We’re not leaving it up to chance” and
“It’s an election that we have to win.”
