Obama announces reelection bid

President Barack Obama announced yesterday in an e-mail and a campaign video that he will seek a… President Barack Obama announced yesterday in an e-mail and a campaign video that he will seek a second term as president of the United States.

In the video, Obama supporters emphasized the need for a grassroots campaign driven by volunteers, and it seems likely that the campaign will reach out to Pitt students.

The announcement came over the campaign’s website without an accompanying statement by the president — whose schedule yesterday included no public appearances. Obama did not speak in the video, though pictures of him appear several times during the two-minute production.

On the Obama campaign’s website, barackobama.com, a video and blog posts push for people to volunteer and contribute to the campaign. So far, no nationally known Republicans have officially declared presidential candidacy.

In the 2008 election cycle — during which Pennsylvania was considered a battleground state — Obama’s campaign opened multiple offices in Pittsburgh, including one in Oakland that brought in dozens of Pitt student volunteers.

Voters from ages 18 to 24 were among Obama’s most numerous supporters in the 2008 campaign — some 65 percent voted for him in Pennsylvania, according to New York Times exit polling. That’s a higher percentage than in any other age group.

Matthew DiFiore, the president of Pitt’s College Democrats, said that he has not yet heard from Organizing for America, a grassroots Democratic organization set up by Obama’s 2008 campaign, or from Obama for America, about a re-election campaign launched this year.

DiFiore said that the group did not have any plans yet for campaigning for the 2012 election. The last campaign saw a large voter registration drive on Pitt’s campus and volunteers who went door to door in Oakland right up through election day.