America likes to have the biggest everything. This time, they really have gone for the prize - for the largest number of Presidential candidates ever. With eighteen candidates already declared - eight Democrats and ten Republicans - and several others expected to throw hats into the ring, it's more like a mob and a mad dash than a race!
What has caused such a large number of candidates to put themselves forward? Part of it is simply down to the fact that, for the first time in eighty years, there is no sitting president or vice-president running for their party's nomination, the last time this happened being the 1928 Presidential election. Another part can be oput down to the fact that their is no clear winner in either party. Neither Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, or Rudi Giuliani are head and shoulders above and ahead of the other candidates, which has thus enabled more candidates to enter the race.
The current candidates are [alphabetically by sirname], for the Democrats:
- Joe Biden
- Hillary Clinton
- Christopher Dodd
- John Edwards
- Mike Gravel
- Dennis Kucinich
- Barack Obama
- Bill Richardson
- Sam Brownback
- Jim Gilmore
- Rudi Giuliani
- Mike Huckabee
- Duncan Hunter
- John McCain
- Ron Paul
- Mitt Romney
- Tom Tancredo
- Tommy G Thompson
Even considering how large the field already is, there are even more people who appear to wish to enter the race: former Vice-President Al Gore (Democrats), Fred Thompson (Republican), Newt Gingrich (Republican) [what a name!], and Michael Bloomberg (as an independent).
If all of them actually did enter the race, that would take the number of candidates to a whopping 22! And I thought the Labour Deputy Leadership election was full, with [just] six!
Source: The Telegraph
