The campaign is on: Obama annouces his bid for re-election

US President Barack Obama announced his bid for re-election this morning on his website. Joe Biden will be running along side Obama for the office of Vice President. Using his new slogan "It begins with us", Obama told his supporters that the campaign had started. This means that the race for contributions is on.

Obama’s first re-election fundraiser will take place in Chicago on April 14th. The President chose to make his campaign official a little earlier than what's typical in order to get a head start on fundraising. Obama’s team has asked campaign bundlers to raise 350,000 dollars each, a difficult task given the financial laws limit gifts to 2,500 dollars per donor.

No Republican contenders have been formally announced, although it seems like the campaign is well on its way. Republicans have already traveled to key voting states meeting with supporters across the country. In addition, it is said that two former White House staffers will set up a third-party outside spending group.