Washington: On April 4, 2011, Barack Obama announced his re-election campaign
for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his
website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission. The
promotional video showed supporters of Obama organizing for the re-election
effort.
Team Obama set-up its headquarters in Chicago where key
members of Obama's successful 2008 campaign, such as Jim Messina and David
Axelrod, returned to staff it.
As the incumbent president he ran virtually unopposed in the
Democratic Party presidential primaries, and on April 3, 2012, Obama had
secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.
At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North
Carolina, former President Bill Clinton formally nominated Obama and Joe Biden
as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the
general election, in which their main opponents were Republicans Mitt Romney,
the former governor of Massachusetts, and Representative Paul Ryan of
Wisconsin.
As 'The Guardian' newspaper noted, this was the first U.S.
presidential re-election campaign to use Twitter and Facebook for promotion.
On November 6, 2012, Obama won 303 delegated to the
electoral college, exceeding the 270 delegates required to be elected to a
second term as president.