More Candidates

The list of official GOP presidential candidates is set to expand in the next few days, with Carly Fiorina and Dr. Ben Carson scheduled to announce on May 4 followed by Mike Huckabee on May 5. In addition, another name has bubbled back up in the last few days, that of Michigan governor Rick Snyder. Snyder's name was on some early lists last year and I had him on my potential candidates list until a couple of weeks ago, but during the "invisible primary" he had pretty much disappeared until last week and I had deleted him. Then on Saturday, former Minnesota senator Norm Coleman told reporters that Snyder was running. Snyder himself has walked that back a bit, saying on Monday that "It's something I'm watching," but since he's back in the news I'm adding him back on to my "possible" list.

Declared GOP Candidates
Ted Cruz (March 23) 
Rand Paul (April 7)
Marco Rubio (April 14)

Possible Republican Candidates
Jeb Bush
Dr. Ben Carson (announcing May 4) 
Chris Christie
Mike Huckabee (announcing May 5) 
Bobby Jindall
John Kasich
Mike Pence
Rick Perry
Rick Santorum
Rick Snyder (back to the list) 
Scott Walker

Late Adds on December 22
Carly Fiorina (announcing May 4) 
Lindsey Graham
George Pataki

Officially Not Running
Rob Portman (Dec 2)
Paul Ryan (Jan 12)
Mitt Romney (Jan 30)

All of the above list-keeping is strictly concerned with the Republican race, simply because there's almost no suspense on the Democratic side, but it's looking like Hill might have some competition after all. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who is an Independent, will announce tomorrow that he's running for the Democratic nomination. And Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland, rushed back from a trip to London in the wake of the Baltimore riots, a clue that he's planning to run as well. As an ex-gov, he has no official role in managing the crisis but as a potential presidential candidate he apparently believes that the optics of collecting money for paid speeches while Baltimore burns are not in his favor and he's right.   

Days to Election Day: 558