Barack Obama, the junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. He is seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election.Obama announced at the Old State Capitol building where Abraham Lincoln delivered his "House Divided" speech in 1858.Obama's win on January 26th in the South Carolina primary evens the score between him and Hillary Clinton after his first win in the Iowa caucuses and close second-place finishes in the New Hampshire primary and the Nevada caucuses. As of January 30, 2008 he is estimated to have 158 delegates (including superdelegates) of the 2,025 needed to win the nomination, trailing Hillary Clinton by 74. ************************************************* New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had expressed interest in the 2008 United States presidential race[1] since at least October 2002, drawing media speculation on whether she would become a candidate. No woman has ever been nominated by a major party to run for President in the history of U.S. presidential elections. Clinton is also the first wife of an American president to run for president.---------------- On January 20, 2007, she announced that she was forming an exploratory committee and filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. Subsequently she began heavy fund-raising and campaigning activities. For several months Clinton led opinion polls among Democratic candidates by substantial margins, until Senator Barack Obama pulled close to or even with her. Clinton then regained her lead, winning many polls by double digits; by autumn 2007 she was leading all other Democratic candidates by wide margins in national polls.She placed third in the Iowa caucus to Barack Obama and John Edwards, and trailed badly in polls shortly thereafter in New Hampshire, before staging a sudden comeback and finishing first in the New Hampshire primary.She went on to win the Nevada, but lost by a heavy margin in South Carolina.