Report: Obama to launch 2012 bid this week

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is about to make one of Washington's worst kept secrets official: He wants a second term.

Democratic officials familiar with the president's plans said Saturday that Obama intends to file papers as early as this coming week with the Federal Election Commission to launch his 2012 re-election campaign. He also will announce his candidacy to supporters by email and text messages.

The officials asked not to be identified in order to speak before the papers are filed.

The New York Times reports that Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, will formally open the doors to the 2012 campaign's Chicago headquarters this week. Obama will be the first president in several decades to campaign for reelection outside of the Washington, D.C., area.

"The president and I have discussed the challenges -- and there are challenges," he said. "But I want people in the Chicago headquarters who live and sleep and eat and breathe re-electing Barack Obama as president."

That widely anticipated but formal step of registering with the FEC will free Obama to start raising money for the re-election effort, which, like his 2008 campaign, will be run from Chicago.

That fundraising already has begun. Obama netted $1.5 million at a Democratic fundraiser in New York's Harlem this past week. He's also scheduled to travel in the week ahead to headline events in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Obama raised an eye-catching $750 million in 2008.

Reports have emerged that two former White House aides are preparing to start an independent political group supporting his candidacy - a move that would represent a significant departure from the president's previous condemnation of outside groups in electoral politics.

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Obama vocally condemned the influence of such groups, not only discouraging their formation but also pressuring donors not to finance them.

But in the wake of 2010 Citizen's United Supreme Court decision, which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on presidential campaigns, the Obama administration has signaled an openness to accepting money from independent political groups. Groups like American Crossroads and Americans for Prosperity took in tens of millions of dollars in the 2012 cycle to spend on behalf of Republican candidates, often without disclosing their donors.

The president isn't expected to face a primary challenge.

Though a cast of Republican governors, former governors and others are laying the groundwork for a presidential bid, none has entered the race.

As the Obama campaign operation ramps up behind the scenes in terms of money, message and manpower, Obama plans to stay focused on his day job. Aside from the obvious fundraising that will be required of him, Obama intends to stay out of the fray until Republicans settle on a candidate next spring.

Obama's hopes for a second term received a boost Friday after the government said the March unemployment rate had dipped to its lowest level in two years, to 8.8 percent, and that the economy added 216,000 jobs last month.

Polls consistently show the economy is voters' top concern and Republicans plan to make an issue of Obama's handling of the recovery.

Obama said Friday's numbers mean the "economy is showing signs of real strength" as it continues to recover from the recession that wiped out 7.5 million jobs.