FACTBOX-Facts about Democratic Sen. Barack Obama

(Reuters) - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois on Saturday officially announced he is running for U.S. president in 2008.

Here are some facts about Obama:

- Has written two best-selling books: "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance," an autobiography, and "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," published in October 2006.

- The son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, he was raised in Hawaii and attended Columbia University and the Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

- Served as a state legislator in Illinois until winning runaway election to the U.S. Senate in 2004 against a stand-in opponent after top rivals in both parties were damaged by scandals.

- Delivered the keynote address at the Democratic national convention in Boston in 2004, months before he won election to the Senate.

- Married in 1992, he and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters.