Four More Candidates Enter Presidential Race
May 5, 2015 - Its been a busy week in presidential politics as four more candidates have entered the race. Until now Hillary Clinton had the Democratic field entirely to herself , but last Thursday Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont made it
official when he announced he would run for the Democratic Party nomination.
Sanders, 73, is an Independent who normally caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate. He said he would register as a Democrat if necessary to win the nomination. Sanders made a nice splash in fundraising after his announcement when he promptly raised $1.5 million dollars online for his campaign. That will sure pay for a lot of Bernie Sanders for President campaign buttons!
On the Republican side three more candidates have now entered the quest for the White House, Dr Ben Carson, former Hewlett - Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Carson, 63, is a retired neurosurgeon who in 1987 became the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins joined at the head. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2008. Carson became a favorite of conservatives when he delivered a speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast where he explained his ideas on political correctness, health care, taxation and education. In the latest polling , Carson has the support of 7% those polled. This is Carson's first run for political office.
Fiorina , 60, in addition to her time at Hewlett - Packard, was an executive at AT&T and at Lucent. This will be Fiorina's second run for political office. In 2010, she ran for the U.S. Senate from Californian losing to California's long time Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. Currently Fiorina is registering at just 1% in the latest political opinion poll.
Huckabee , 59, begins his second quest for the presidency having been a candidate in 2008. Despite wining the 2008 Iowa Caucus and several other states including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee he could not over come the
campaign of John McCain who would go on to win the 2008 Republican nomination. Huckabee is currently registering in the latest poll with 5%.
In the newest polling, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is the leading the Republican field with 23% followed by , Senator Marco Rubio of Florida with 18%, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker with 14%, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas both with 11% and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie with 5%.
In regards to Christie , the last week brought some news on the long running George Washington Bridge scandal when three of his former allies were indicted in relation to the lane closures. U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul Fishman in a press conference about the indictments said there was not evidence that Christie was involved in the September 2013 lane closures on the bridge. Christie has attempted to spin this as a vindication that he had nothing to do with the lane closures. The view of the political world has so far been divided as to whether Christie can still be considered a viable candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
In other news Hillary Clinton has agreed to appear before the House Select Committee on Benghazi to answer questions before the end of May. The committee had wanted Clinton to appear on two separate occasions to answer questions about Benghazi and the use of emails during her tenure at Secretary of State. Clinton's lawyer David Kendall said that she would appear on one day and stay as long as was necessary to answer the questions on the two topics.
Despite the controversy of the emails, Clinton continues to lead in potential 2016 general election match ups. Here are the results Clinton 49% vs Bush 43%, Clinton 49% vs Rubio 43%, Clinton 47% vs Paul 43% and Clinton 50% vs Walker 40%.
Bush Continues to Lead Republicans, While Hillary Continues To Lead Everyone
April 22 , 2015 - Latest polling on the 2016 presidential race shows the Republicans still all packed in tight together 
with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush leading the GOP field with 17%. Bush, the son of President George H.W. Bush and the brother of President George W. Bush, finds his closest competitor is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker with 12%.
Tied at 11% each are two candidates who have formally declared for president that being Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee , who won the Iowa Republican Caucus in 2008, is in 5th place with 9% followed by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas with 7%.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who at one time found himself in first and second in many polls now sees his potential presidential candidacy in 
free fall as he is tied at 4% with Dr. Ben Carson.
Meanwhile on the Democratic side the only candidate to formally declare for the presidency former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has leads over any potential Democratic challengers and any hypothetical November 2016 match ups 
against a Republican candidate.
In the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, Clinton has the support of 69% followed by Vice President Joe Biden with 11%, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont with 5%, former Senator Jim Webb of Virginia with 3% and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley both with 1%.
When pitted against potential 2016 November general election challengers the results are as follows Clinton 55% vs Rubio 41%, Clinton 56% vs Bush 39%, Clinton 58% vs Christie 39% and Clinton 58% vs Paul 39%. The remaining GOP challengers Huckabee , Walker, Cruz and Carson all find themselves more 20% behind when matched with Clinton.
Senator Rubio Becomes Latest Republican to Enter White House Race
March 14, 2015 - Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida yesterday officially declared his is a presidential candidate with a speech in Miami , Florida. Rubio is the youngest of potential White House challengers at the age of 43.
Speaking at the Freedom Tower, Rubio stated that "grounded by the lessons of our history,but inspired by the promise of our futures, I annoucne my candidacy for President of United States of America." In an preemptive strike at Democrat Hillary Clinton, Rubio said" just yesterday a leader from yesterday, began a campaign for President by promising to take us back to yesterday. But yesterday is over , and we are never going back."
Before Rubio gets to take on Clinton he will first have to get through his fellow GOP White House hopefuls. Currently national polls find Rubio in 7th place among potential Republican contenders.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is in first place with 16.5% , followed by Wisconsin Scott Walker with 15.3%, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas with 10.5%, Senator Rand Paul of Texas with 9.8%, Dr. Ben Carson with 9%, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 8.5% followed by Rubio with 7.3%.
Hillary Clinton to Officially Launch 2016 Presidential Bid
April 10, 2015 - Its time to dust off those Hillary Clinton for president campaign buttons as numerous media outlets today reported that Hillary Clinton will formerly begin her 2016 presidential campaign with an announcement via social media on Sunday April 12, 2015.
Clinton will then follow up the announcement with a visit to Iowa early next week. Unlike her 2008 run for the White House, Clinton is expected to avoid the large mega campaign rallies in favor of more smaller type of events similar to her Senate race of 2000.
Currently Clinton, 67, is leading all potential Democratic challengers. At present Clinton has the support of 59% of potential primary voters followed by , Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts with 12%, Vice President Joe Biden with 11%, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont with 4%, and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley with 1%.
Sunday's announcement will ends months if not years of speculation that Clinton would mount a second presidential bid following her loss to Barack Obama in 2008.
Senator Rand Paul Enters 2016 Presidential Race
April 7, 2015 - Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky will make it official today when announces at a rally in Louisville that he
is running for president. Paul , a Republican, will become the second person to join the contest for the GOP presidential nomination following the recent announcement of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas of his White House intentions.
After his announcement, Paul,52, will immediately visit all the early primary and caucus states with stops scheduled in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada. Currently Paul is in third place in national polls with 12% behind current front runner former Florida Governor Jeb Bush with 16% and second place holder Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker with 13%.
Paul is not the first member of his family to appear on a Paul for president campaign button , as his father former Texas Congressman Ron Paul ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012 and was also the presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party in 1988.
First elected to the United States Senate in 2010 , Paul does not have to worry about giving up his Senate seat to run for president. Kentucky is expected to change from a presidential primary to a presidential caucus which would allow Paul to run for both offices. Because Kentucky law bars a person from appearing twice on a ballot , by switching to a presidential caucus this will allow Paul to circumvent the rule.