CHICAGO — Surrounded by friends and family members waving “Ms. President” placards, former Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois officially announced her entry into the 2004 Democratic presidential race Tuesday.
“It’s time to take the ‘men only’ sign off the White House door,” Moseley-Braun said as she kicked off her campaign at the University of Chicago Law School.
The snowstorm that closed government offices in Washington spoiled her plans to file paperwork creating a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Committee. Moseley-Braun said she would formally join the otherwise all-male field of Democratic hopefuls as soon as government offices reopen.
She also plans speeches later this week in Washington, including an appearance at a meeting of the Democratic National Committee.
Moseley-Braun said her exploratory committee includes Reps. Danny Davis, D-Ill., and Bobby Rush, D-Ill.; Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago; Cook County Board President John Stroger; former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill.; and activist and writer Gloria Steinem.
Although some backers concede she is highly unlikely to emerge atop a Democratic field now numbering eight, Moseley-Braun insisted she was getting in the race to win.
“I have every hope and every expectation that this will be a successful effort,” she said. “I’m running for president. I’m not running just to be another pretty face.”
Still, Moseley-Braun cautioned that she was not sure she would be in the race when the presidential caucuses and primaries begin in January. She said she would barnstorm the country before deciding by September whether to press her campaign for the Oval Office.
Moseley-Braun began testing the appeal of her anti-war message during speeches Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Those states will hold the first caucuses and primaries of the 2004 campaign.
“This is just an exploratory committee,” she said. “By the fall, I will have concluded, with my committee, whether an actual campaign for the presidency is sensible.”
Moseley-Braun won election as the first black woman senator in 1992 after unseating Alan Dixon in a Democratic primary upset. Her tenure in Washington lasted only one term, with Republican Peter Fitzgerald defeating her in 1998.
President Bill Clinton then appointed her U.S. ambassador to New Zealand, a post she held two years. Since returning from New Zealand in 2000, she has stayed out of politics.