In what still feels like the wake of the historic and emotional 2008 presidential elections, which swept Barack Obama into the White House, the next election cycle is already in high gear.
The 2012 presidential election won’t take place for about 18 months, but there are already several confirmed candidates, some who are exploring being candidates, others who are possible candidates, and several who have officially decided against running.
[etssp 379]
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) requires any candidate who either spends or receives $5,000 or more to register with the FEC.
Information about who is and isn’t running for president, who is exploring running for president, and who has decided not to run varies. It’s still early, but confirmed and potential candidates stand out.
Declared Presidential Candidates
Among the most notable confirmed candidates are incumbent President Barack Obama (Democrat) and Newt Gingrich (Republican), who declared his candidacy via Twitter. So far none of the declared candidates are predicted to pose a significant challenge to Obama being re-elected in 2012.
In the field of undeclared but potential candidates are John Bolton (Republican) who was the U.S. representative to the U.N. under G.W. Bush; and Sarah Palin (Republican) who is a former governor of Alaska and was the running mate to presidential candidate John McCain in 2008. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Republican) is said to be considering a presidential run, but he hasn’t made it official yet.
Mike Huckabee (Republican) is a former governor of Arkansas. He is well liked, and his name has been on the roster of potential presidential candidates in the past, but he has formally declared that he will not run.
One of the most notable contenders to have dropped out of the race before it even began is business and real estate tycoon Donald Trump. He announced he wouldn’t run not long after a fiery and politically incorrect speech that went viral on the Internet.
