There are two people that are clearly not candidates for President of the United States – George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. After that, it gets rather complicated. If all of the Presidential candidates were in the same place, it would be a small crowd of over thirty candidates (if other political parties are included) and approximately twenty candidates for just the Republicans and Democrats.
Most people have heard of the media termed “top tier” candidates – Senator Hillary Clinton (New York), Senator Barack Obama (Illinois), former Democratic Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards (North Carolina), former Governor Mitt Romney (Massachusetts), former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (New York), Senator John McCain (Arizona), and former Senator Fred Thompson (Tennessee). Notably, there are seven “top tier” candidates, and that is without including some other individuals considered heavyweights like former Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Vice President Al Gore, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The Republicans have the most crowded field with twelve candidates vying for the nomination. Some of them are better known than others, but they all appear to have the so called “fire in the belly” to wage a Presidential campaign. In addition to the so called “top tier” candidates, they include two additional U. S. Senators – Senator Sam Brownback (Kansas) and Senator Chuck Hagel (Nebraska, although not officially declared); three additional former governors – Jim Gilmore (Virginia), Mike Huckabee (Arkansas), and Tommy Thompson (Wisconsin); and, three U. S. Congressman – Duncan Hunter (California), Ron Paul (Texas), and Tom Tancredo (California).
The Democrats are not far behind with eight candidates who want to be their Party’s nominee. In addition to the “top tier” candidates, they include two additional U.S. Senators – Senator Joe Biden (Delaware), and Chris Dodd (Connecticut); one Governor – Governor Bill Richardson (New Mexico); one additional former Senator – Mike Gravel (Alaska); and, one Congressman – Dennis Kucinich (Ohio).
In all, there are ten current or former United States Senators who want to be the next President of the United States. There are five current or former governors that want the job. They come from eighteen different states – four from the Northeast (Delaware, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts), two from the West (Alaska and California), four from the Southeast (Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia), five from the Mideast (Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Nebraska), and three from the Midwest/Southwest (Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico).
One interesting geographical note, there are two possibilities of a single state producing both nominees for President – Tennessee (Fred Thompson for the Republicans and Al Gore (if he ran) for the Democrats); and New York (Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democrats and Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the Republicans). In fact, should New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg decide to run as an independent, there could be three major candidates from the State of New York. It is anyone’s guess as to who would carry that state in a General Election with all three names on the ballot.
Of course, none of this considers the twenty-five third party candidates from the Independent Party (ten candidates from eight states); Green Party (eight candidates from seven states); or the Libertarian Party (seven candidates from seven states). So far, there is one candidate from Georgia – Elaine Brown seeking the nomination of the Green Party.
Since people appear to be tuning in, there will be many more Cable News sponsored debates. There should be a rule, however, that the number of candidates can never exceed the number of viewers. Well, maybe not. There are times when a single candidate is talking and no one is listening or watching. It’s called July.