2008 White House Derby: The Field So Far

[Ron Burgundy]

CQPolitics.com - The following are breakdowns of the current and potential candidates for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations in 2008.
The following are breakdowns of the current and potential candidates for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations in 2008.

The lists for each party are divided into the following categories: officially announced candidates, possible candidates who have formed “exploratory” campaign committees, political figures frequently mentioned as likely or possible candidates, and potential candidates who have officially announced that they will not run for president.

The lists will be updated promptly as developments warrant.

Democrats

Officially announced (date of announcement)

• Retiring Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (Nov. 30, 2006)

• Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (news, bio, voting record) (Dec. 12, 2006)

• Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel (April 17, 2006)

Established exploratory committee (date of filing with the Federal Election Commission)

• None to date

Widely mentioned

• Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden (news, bio, voting record) Jr.

• Retired Gen. Wesley Clark of Arkansas

• New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
• Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (news, bio, voting record)

• Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards
• Former Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee

• Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry

• Illinois Sen. Barack Obama

• New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson

Officially not running (date of announcement)

• Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (Oct. 12, 2006)

• Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record) (Nov. 11, 2006

• Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) (Dec. 15, 2006)

Republicans

Officially announced

• None to date

Established exploratory committee (date of filing with the Federal Election Commission)

• Attorney John H. Cox of Illinois (Feb. 13, 2006)

• Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) (Nov. 16, 2006)

• Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (Nov. 20, 2006)

• Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) (Dec. 1, 2006)

• Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson (Dec. 13, 2006)

• Former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III (announced intention to form exploratory committee on Dec. 20, 2006)

Widely mentioned

• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia

• Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record)

• Retiring Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee

• California Rep. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record)

• Retiring New York Gov. George E. Pataki

• Retiring Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney

• Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo

Officially not running (date of announcement)

• Retiring Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist (news, bio, voting record) (Nov. 29, 2006)