MANCHESTER, N.H. ? Sen. Barack Obama sparked an early frenzy Sunday during his initial visit to the nation’s first presidential primary state but said he still hasn’t decided whether to run and questioned whether all the hype was just part of his “15 minutes of fame.”

The Illinois senator said he is still “running things through the traps” as he considers whether to join a field of Democrats that’s expected to include front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton and several other more experienced political hands.

“This is an office you can’t run for just on the basis of ambition,” Obama told reporters at a news conference between packed events. “You have to feel deep in your gut that you have a vision for the country that is sufficiently important that it needs to be out there.”

At every turn in New Hampshire, Obama got encouragement to enter the race.

Gov. John Lynch joked that the Rolling Stones were originally the headliners at a state party fundraiser where the $25 tickets quickly sold out. “But we canceled them when we realized Senator Obama would sell more tickets,” Lynch said.

He drew 1,500 Democrats to a the fundraiser and several hundred more at a book signing in Portsmouth. Organizers of both events had to turn away many others who wanted to get in.

History teacher and Democrat Mark Bingham of Alton, N.H., met Obama and said that despite his inexperience, he could rank among presidents named Lincoln and Kennedy. “It’s good to see politics going in another direction,” Bingham told the senator.

Obama said he thinks the excitement reflects voters’ desire for a new, positive direction in politics that is not about him as an individual.

“I am suspicious of hype,” Obama told reporters. “The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me and completely baffling to my wife.”

Obama’s appearance before the state party was to celebrate last month’s election, where Lynch won by a record margin and the party took control of both houses of the legislature and New Hampshire’s two U.S. House seats.