According to this story, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore will announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination soon. That makes 17 Republican presidential candidates with the qualifications to be recognized as bona fide by the Republican National Committee.
If there were a top-two system in place for President, and the first round were held now, it is likely that the top two vote-getters would be Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and then they would be the only candidates in the election itself. That is because the Republican field is so split up. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
What are the RNC’s qualifications to become a “bona fide” candidate?
What’s silly about this is that the GOP has tried to take over and control the debates, turning them into national events and squeezing out any other debates.
Many of the less well known candidates are skipping either Iowa or New Hampshire. We’d be better off having media outlets in the early states hosting debates.
The RNC has sanctioned 9 debates. The last 4, in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Texas are prior to the caucuses/primaries in those states.
If there were a Top 2 system in place for the Presidency it is quite unlikely that there would be this sequence of primaries. Alternatively, the Republican and Democratic might have a series of party-run primaries, to discourage candidates from running.
The Republican and Democratic Parties can’t afford party-administered primaries.
Jim,
I understand that…. but by limiting the number of debates and preventing candidates from participating in non-sanctioned forums, they’ve made all of the debates important and ensured all of them are nationally televised.
If the Des Moines Register was free to host their own debate, they could invite only the candidates actively contesting Iowa. Same for the Union-Leader or WMUR in New Hampshire — just invite the 7 or 8 candidates actively contesting NH.
Instead, we now have 18 candidates trying to fight their way onto the stage in every single debate.
Hmmmmm….
How about each presidential candidate has to collect a certain # of signatures to obtain “access” to the debates?
Each petition being affidavited by the circulator and then notarized and then submitted manually to a governmental authority for certification a minimum of 3 months in advance of each debate. Petition signatures will be subject to scrutiny and dispute by other candidates. Disputes by any candidates will require $ deposits.
Costs for each petition will be solely born by the candidates themselves and not by their campaigns or PACS or Super PACS.
What do you think?