President Obama officially announced he is a candidate for President early Monday by sending a video via e-mail to over 14 million people, and naturally, Republicans objected. Yes, it did come just four days before a possible government shutdown, but if press reports are to be believed, yet another continuing resolution may be approved, meaning we might be avoiding another possible government shutdown, for now. In any event, his intro video is a lot more tempered and less inspiring than in 2008:
More interesting is the idea that political analysts have made when it comes to discussing potential Republican suitors who might challenge Obama in 2012. And as usual, one of the chief factors for any serious candidate has to be how much money he or she can raise. The number has been often said to be several hundred million dollars, and the reason above all else is that Obama busted spending caps in 2008, and raised a record $750 billion.
So the thinking so far of a lot of analysts is that Obama will only raise more, because that's what generally happens every four years – it's a more expensive campaign (We certainly saw that in last fall's gubernatorial election in Florida).
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2011.