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)

• Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (Dec. 28, 2006)

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

• Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Dec. 12, 2006)

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

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

• Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (has publicly announced he plans to file with the Federal Election Commission later this month to establish a committee)


Widely mentioned

• Civil Rights activist Al Sharpton
• Retired Gen. Wesley Clark of Arkansas

• New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
• Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd

• Former Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee

• Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry

• Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record)

• 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)

• Former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle (Dec. 2, 2006)

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

Republicans

Officially announced

• Attorney John H. Cox of Illinois (March 9, 2006)

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


• 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 ( Jan. 9, 2007)

• Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (Jan. 3, 2007)

Widely mentioned

• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia

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

• Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee

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

• Former New York Gov. George E. Pataki

• Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo

Officially not running (date of announcement)

• FormerTennessee Sen. Bill Frist (Nov. 29, 2006)


Clarification: Attorney John H. Cox of Illinois announced March 9, 2006 that he is officially pursuing the Republican Party's 2008 presidential nomination. The chart previously listed him as having a presidential campaign exploratory committee.