Democratic Hero Obama May Run for White House

Senator Barack Obama, the "rock star" of Democratic politics, said on Sunday that he was considering a run for the White House in the 2008 presidential election.

Should he secure the Democratic nomination, Mr Obama would be the first African-American to be chosen by either of the main parties.

The announcement poses a significant complication for the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton. Mr Obama opposes the war in Iraq, unlike Ms Clinton. He could also cut into her political base of African-American voters.

Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Mr Obama, 45, who has served as a senator for Illinois for two years, said he would reconsider his previous commitment to serve a full six-year term in the Senate.

"My main focus right now is in '06 and making sure that we retake the Congress," he said. "After November 7, I'll sit down and consider - and if, at some point, I change my mind, I will make a public announcement and everybody will be able to go at me."

Should Mr Obama enter the race for the Democratic nomination - considered to be the most open for generations - he will face a field likely to include not only Ms Clinton but John Kerry, the losing candidate in 2004, and his then running mate, John Edwards. Three other senators and two state governors are also likely to run.

While the other likely candidates are seasoned Democratic politicians, Mr Obama is a newcomer, whose speech at the 2004 Democratic convention catapulted him to national prominence. Since then he has become the darling of a party that is distinctly lacking in star power.

He is one of the most in-demand public speakers on the Democratic circuit and has graced magazine covers from Vanity Fair to Time. Most recently he has spent time promoting his latest book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

But his celebrity has also led to criticisms that he is paying too much attention to style, and not enough to substance. The Washington Post's fashion correspondent recently noted of a Men's Vogue picture spread featuring Mr Obama that it celebrated "the idea of Obama rather than the reality of politics". His lack of experience has also caused some to doubt whether it is too early in his political career to contemplate a run for president.

Mr Obama addressed that on Sunday, saying: "I'm not sure anybody is ready to be president before they're president."