Wright was scheduled to give the public invocation before Obama's presidential announcement, but Obama withdrew the invitation the night before the event.

For more information, you may read the related presidential announcements and stakeholder commitment letters.

The timing of the presidential announcement was tied also to the fact that Ridgway's forces were fast approaching the 38th parallel.

Others said recent presidential announcements had not cut into the political narrative unfolding in Iowa.

Don't look for presidential announcements from Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton anytime soon, but stay tuned.

He began his presidential announcement with the phrase "Giving all praise and honor to God," a salutation common in the black church.

Despite the canceled invocation, Mr. Wright prayed with the Obama family just before his presidential announcement.

The presidential announcements, politically helpful to Mr. Gore, range from the prosaic to the sweeping.

"He didn't say anything concrete," complained Ryo Tengan, 28, a civil servant who was hoping for a presidential announcement of an immediate reduction in troops.

"This was his presidential announcement."