Ok, so it’s not really like a fancy NCAA March Madness bracket. Cruz is declared and other candidates are approaching the starting gate. After all, the Iowa caucuses are just 9 months away, and the actual election is only 19 month away! For a little perspective, John F. Kennedy announced his 1960 candidacy in January 1960, and his brother Robert announced his in March 1968. Is the system so much better now with all the caucuses and primaries, endless television debates and non-stop talking heads on 24-hour news channels?

I can identify 29 men and women who may want to run for president in 2016. They are a very diverse group, which is an improvement over the 1960’s. But is the caliber any better? Are egos even bigger than they were in years gone by?

Hopefully the following list includes all possibilities at the moment, but I will be happy to edit the list if someone was left off. Take a look and see who you think will be still running after Iowa/New Hampshire/South Carolina. For convenience sake I have placed most of the candidates in a “division” of their party. Think of it like divisions in the NFL. In fact, it might be better if the NFL did something like putting the Patriots in their own division to give the other AFC East teams a chance. But I digress.

I’ve marked my guesses for which candidates will survive past South Carolina with a _________ next to their names. I’ll update the list from time-to-time.

 

Presidential Campaign 2016 Bracket

Who will make it past Iowa/New Hampshire/South Carolina?

Republican                                                                                                  Democratic

Base Division                                                                                                                               Progressive Division

Ben Carson                                                                                                         __________     Bernie Sanders

Ted Cruz                              __________                                                                                     Elizabeth Warren

Mike Huckabee

Rick Santorum

Need Attention Division                                                                                                                  Vice President Division

Sarah Palin                                                                                                                                     Joe Biden

Donald Trump

Establishment Division                                                                                                                   Mid-Atlantic Division

Jeb Bush                              __________                                                     __________             Martin O’Malley

Chris Christie                                                                                                                                  Jim Webb

Marco Rubio

Governors Division                                                                                                                          Hillary Division

Bobby Jindal                                                                                                       __________         Hillary Clinton

John Kasich

Mike Pence

Rick Perry                            __________

Scott Walker                      __________

Libertarian Division

Rand Paul                            __________

Why Are They Doing It Division (you may need to google some of these names)

John Bolton

Bob Ehrlich

Mark Everson

Carly Fiorina

Jim Gilmore

Lindsay Graham

Peter King

George Pataki

March 28, 2015