CHICAGO — U.S. Sen. Barack Obama took a tiny step closer to revealing his intentions about running for president today, adding a "very" to the "soon" in his assessment about when an announcement would come.

"We will have an announcement very soon," Obama, D-Ill., told reporters outside St. Mark Cathedral in Harvey, Ill., after delivering an emotional keynote speech to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth.

Prefacing his address in the church, Obama turned to an array of media crews and declared that he was "not making news today" about a potential run for the Oval Office.

In recent weeks, Obama has been seeking advice from a widening circle of political advisers and hiring new staff in key primary states, leading political analysts to surmise that he is about to formally launch a presidential bid.

Even if many blacks view Obama as the premier political leader of a new generation of African-Americans, Obama said that the day of celebration for King would have been the wrong moment to declare whether he will seek the presidency in 2008.

"I didn't want to use this day to indicate my plans because I am humbled by what Dr. King accomplished," Obama said. "I don't think that whatever my political plans are, (they) are comparable to the heroic struggles that he went through, and I don't want to draw false parallels."

Obama said that he is weighing issues such as his personal safety and loss of privacy, but then hinted that those matters would not affect his final decision.

Obama electrified the largely African-American audience with an address that focused on King's quest for racial and social justice.

King looked beyond his own personal needs and safety, Obama said, for a larger meaning and a larger purpose. He then challenged the congregation to do the same.

Earlier in the morning, Obama's star power overshadowed the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and an assortment of other political leaders and civil rights activists at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's annual King scholarship breakfast in Chicago.

"A new president. ... He's in the house," Jackson said to thunderous applause from the estimated crowd of 1,600.