President Barack Obama plans to send supporters a text or e-mail message with a video announcing his intention to run for re-election, multiple Democratic sources tell CNN.
The message could come as early as Monday morning. The sources say his campaign team also hopes to file papers with the Federal Election Commission Monday to launch his 2012 re-election campaign.
The timing of the announcement and the filing could change depending on outside events. The White House is closely watching negotiations on Capitol Hill over the 2011 spending bill, which must be resolved this week to avoid a government shutdown.
This would come more than a week before the president hosts his first re-election fund-raiser in Chicago on April 14. These Democrats say no public event is planned because the White House wants to downplay the announcement and minimize the political distraction.
The president is making his campaign official slightly earlier than is typical for an incumbent so he can get a jump on fund-raising in a season that’s likely to shatter all records. Obama’s team has been asking campaign bundlers to raise $350,000 each, no easy task since campaign finance laws limit gifts to $2,500 per donor. Two sources tell CNN the campaign team hopes that in total their bundlers will raise $500 million, leaving the campaign to raise another $500 million and amass a record-breaking $1 billion war chest.
Via: CNN.com
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