This week I spoke with Bill Brannon, a Regional Field Director for the Democratic National Committee.

This week I talked to Roberta Hicks from Amarillo, Texas, the State Democratic Executive Committeewoman from Senate District 31.

Looks like Barack Obama is done "exploring" the idea of being president, because he officially announced this morning in Illinois (in the city of Abraham Lincoln, might I point out) that he is in the race. He announced in early January that he had developed an exploratory committee, but we all knew that it was only a matter of time before he announced that he was running. After all, he along with John Edwards and Hillary Clinton have been the front-runners in the media as well as in fundraising for some time now.

Joining me for this week's On The Record is James Belk, Hale County Democratic Party Chair.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean announced today that Denver, Colorado will host the 2008 Democratic National Convention on Monday, August 25 through Thursday, August 28. The options have been between Denver and New York for the past few months. Dean claimed that the bids from both cities have made the decision "enormously difficult."

Last night, January 7th, Fred Baron threw a fundraiser for Democratic Presidential nominee John Edwards at his home in Dallas. Fred Baron was the Finance Chair for John Edwards' in the 2004 elections for President and will be again during his race this go-round. Not only is Baron a dedicated fundraiser for the Democratic party, but he is also an expert political strategist who has just purchased a home in North Carolina to better assist Edwards' in his battle.

Today Nancy Pelosi, Representative from California, addressed the 110th Congress for the first time as Speaker of the House. She announced that she was accepting the gavel as speaker "in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship." This was following the statements made by the new Republican minority leader John A. Boehner, a Representative from Ohio, that the gavel and position were "on loan from the American people."

This morning, President Bush announced that he will submit a five-year budget proposal that will balance the federal budget by 2012. The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit for the current budget year will come close to $286 billion, while they see it reaching $1.76 trillion within the next ten years. Something must be done in order to get these numbers under control.