Road to the White House--1st Post of Many to Come

A busy week/weekend with regards to presidential campaign announcements, so I figured it was time to do a roundup of who is currently in the race (and I'm only including, at this time, those who have actually announced candidacy and/or formed exploratory committees).

Hillary Clinton announced the formation of an exploratory committee, via her official website, perhaps in a nod to the netroots who have not always been her biggest fans. Though Mrs. Clinton's announcement was a day later than initially expected, it did happen to fall on the date when the next president will be inaugurated two years from now. "I'm in, and I'm in to win," she says.

Barack Obama also announced his bid, again via formation of an exploratory committee, online a few days before before Senator Clinton. These two big guns of the party are going to be monopolizing most of the free media coverage.

Bill Richardson made his announcement (again, say it with me, via formation of an exploratory committee) while also hitting the Sunday talk shows. Though it could be argued that his announcement was overshadowed by the Obama/Clinton roadshow, Richardson may very well be the most accomplished candidate to announce, of either party. Skeptical? Just check out his curriculum vitae. He even has fans on the other side.

I will say again that I am far from choosing a horse for this race, but just these three announcements have me rather jazzed simply for the sheer diversity of candidates the Democrats a fielding this year. Of the above candidates, we have a woman, an African American and a Hispanic...all with credible chances of gaining their party's nomination.

Whereas on the other side....we have the typical parade of white men, exemplified this weekend in the person of GOP Senator Sam Brownback (whom I will in the future refer to, for the duration of his bid, as Senator SexyBack).

So, without further ado, here is the current crop:

Democrats

1. US Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware)
2. US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York)
3. US Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut)
4. Former US Senator John Edwards (D-North Carolina)
5. Former Alaska US Senator Mike Gravel (D-Virginia)
6. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)
7. US Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois)
8. Governor Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico)
9. Governor Tom Vilsack (D-Iowa)
   

Republicans

1. US Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas)
2. Former Governor Jim Gilmore (R-Virginia)
3. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R-New York)
4. Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-California)
5. US Senator John McCain (R-Arizona)
6. Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas)
7. Former Governor Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts)
8. Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado)
9. Former Governor Tommy Thompson (R-Wisconsin)

So far, the Democrats seem to have a leg up with regards to web prescence. Neither Jim Gilmore nor Rudy Giuliani seem to have campaign websites as of yet. Ron Paul & Duncan Hunter's sites have little to no information about the candidates yet (this seems especially odd for Hunter, since he announced his candidacy way back on October 30 of 2006). Futher, Clinton plans to hold a series of webcasts, beginning tonight, in hopes of spurring a "national conversation about our country's future." Presidential candidates can simply no longer ignore the netroots, and this campaign will also demonstrate that the netroots are more than a money tree to be shaken every two years. I'm neither smart enough nor prescient enough to know how the netroots will shape the upcoming campaign, only that they will.