Obama likely to announce re-election bid next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Barack Obama is likely to announce plans next week to run for re-election and file campaign papers with the Federal Election Commission as early as tomorrow, a Democratic official said yesterday.

Filing with the FEC would allow Obama to start raising money for a 2012 campaign that is expected to break records in political spending.

The Democratic official stressed that no final decisions have been made about the timing of an announcement or filing.