SPRINGFIELD, Feb 10: Democrat Barack Obama announced on Saturday that he is running for the White House in 2008, evoking Abraham Lincoln’s ability to unite America and promising to lead a new generation to “transform this nation”.

The first-term US senator announced his candidacy from the state capital where he began his elective career just 10 years ago, and in front of the building where in another century, Lincoln served eight years in the Illinois Legislature.

“We can build a more hopeful America. And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America,” Obama said. During his 20-minute speech, Obama did not mention his family background, his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia or that he would be the first black president if elected.—AP