At 6 p.m. on September 19 , 1995—the first day of the thirteen-week period in which candidates could circulate nominating petitions to earn a place on the ballot for the March 1996 primary—34-year-old Barack Obama announced his candidacy for Palmer 's state Senate seat to a standing-room-only people.place_lived of 200 supporters at the Ramada Inn Lakeshore at 4900 S. Lake Shore Drive in Hyde Park-Kenwood , Chicago in the same room where thirteen years earlier Harold Washington had announced his successful run for Mayor of Chicago .