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Who Is in, and About to Get in, the GOP Race for President


2016The Republican presidential field: who’s in, who’s almost in, and who’s still waiting for the right moment.

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IN THE RACE:

TED CRUZ

The first major Republican to get into the race, the Texas senator kicked off his campaign March 23 at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. “I believe in you. I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to re-ignite the promise of America,” he said.

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RAND PAUL

The Kentucky senator launched his campaign April 7 in Louisville, where he told a hotel ballroom full of supporters, “I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We have come to take our country back.”

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MARCO RUBIO

In a speech April 13 in Miami, the senator from Florida called his candidacy for president a way for the country to break free of ideas “stuck in the 20th century.” He said, “This election is not just about what laws we are going to pass. It is a generational choice about what kind of country we will be.”

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CARLY FIORINA

The former tech executive chose social media and a nationally broadcast morning TV network show to launch her campaign on May 4, and she quickly went after Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. “I have a lot of admiration for Hillary Clinton, but she clearly is not trustworthy,” she said.

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BEN CARSON

The retired pediatric neurosurgeon got into the race the same day as Fiorina with an announcement speech in his native Detroit. “It’s time for people to rise up and take the government back. The political class won’t like me saying things like that. The political class comes from both parties.”

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MIKE HUCKABEE

The former Arkansas governor and runner-up in the 2008 GOP presidential primaries kicked off his second White House campaign May 5 in the hometown he shares with former President Bill Clinton — Hope, Arkansas. “Power, money and political influence have left a lot of Americans behind,” he said.

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RICK SANTORUM

The runner-up to Mitt Romney in 2012, Santorum began his return engagement to presidential politics May 27 in his western Pennsylvania hometown of Cabot. “The last race, we changed the debate. This race, with your help and God’s grace, we can change this nation,” he said.

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GEORGE PATAKI

A former three-term governor of New York, who previously considered presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012, Pataki got his campaign started on May 28 in Exeter, New Hampshire. “While I saw the horrors of Sept. 11 firsthand, in the days, weeks and months that followed, I also saw the strength of America on display. … I completely reject the idea that we can only come together in adversity.”

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LINDSEY GRAHAM

After all but confirming the week before that he was in, the senior senator from South Carolina made it official June 1 with a speech in his hometown of Central, South Carolina, that cast the foreign threats to America in dark terms. “Simply put, radical Islam is running wild. They have more safe havens, more money, more weapons and more capability to strike our homeland than any time since 9/11. They are large, they are rich, and they’re entrenched.”

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RICK PERRY

The former Texas governor announced his 2016 presidential bid June 4 at an airfield outside Dallas, surrounded by prominent veterans — including the widow of Chris Kyle of “American Sniper” fame. “I have been tested. I have led the most successful state in America.”

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JEB BUSH

The former Florida governor declared his candidacy June 15 in Miami after spending months raising money, touring early-voting states and building a political organization to prepare for the campaign. The son and brother of presidents said no candidate “deserves the job by right of resume, party, seniority, family, or family narrative. It’s nobody’s turn. It’s everybody’s test, and it’s wide open — exactly as a contest for president should be.”

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DONALD TRUMP

The real estate mogul and reality television star opened his campaign June 16 in the Manhattan tower that bears his name. “Sadly, the American dream is dead,” Trump said. “But if I get elected president, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and we will make America great again.”

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ALMOST THERE:

BOBBY JINDAL

The governor of Louisiana plans a “major announcement” on the 2016 race on June 24 in New Orleans, an adviser says. “Economic collapse is much closer to the door than people realize, our culture is decaying at a rapid rate and our standing in a dangerous world is at an all-time low,” Jindal said in May.

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WAITING FOR THEIR MOMENT:

CHRIS CHRISTIE

The New Jersey governor says he’ll decide by the end of June. But he looks an awful lot like a candidate, making frequent trips to early-voting states, delivering a series of policy speeches and raising money for a political action committee and super PAC created by his backers.

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JOHN KASICH

The Ohio governor and former congressman is hinting to donors and voters he’s likely to get into the race. His June travels took him to the early states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, with Iowa ahead.

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SCOTT WALKER

The Wisconsin governor says he will announce his decision after signing the state budget, which is expected to pass the Republican-controlled state Legislature in late June. Walker has already created a nonprofit group, Our American Revival, to help promote his expected candidacy, and a super PAC led by his close advisers is up and running.

(AP)



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