Who is Running, Who is NOT Running...?.....?!

I just heard on NPR that former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tn) is definitely running for president. I suppose since many people recognize him from "Law and Order," he might possibly be yet another arch conservative actor/politician who takes the White House. At least, one can credit Thompson for being a better actor than Reagan. He should have recieved an Oscar nomination for his role in "Days of Thunder!"

But, I am sure many of you are asking the proverbial question......."Who is not running?" To my knowledge, current Reidsville, NC Mayor James Festerman is apparently not in the race, nor is my( ironic!) friend and vocal pro-death penalty supporter  Virginia state delegate Todd Gilbert, who is (of course!!) a Republican.

However, many other people are indeed in this race, and some of them stand as much chance of winning a party nomination as the likes of Festerman and Gilbert!

So, here is my list of candidates of who is running, with a catch. I have thrown in two fake candidates from each party. You can guess who each fake candidate is, which will give me a chance to see if anyone is actually reading these entries. Of course, if I cared, I would have gone back to collecting stamps........

Here are the current lists for both parties:

Democrats:

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Delaware)

Sen. H.R. Clinton (D-NY)

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)

former Sen. John Edwards (NC)

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wi)

Mike Gravel (Mass. by way of Alaska)

Cong. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio by way of the planet Neptune)

Gov. Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico)*

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

Republicans:

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)

former Gov. Jim Gilmore (Virginia.......though I wish another state could claim him)

Rudy Guiliani (NY)**

former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee

Cong. Duncan Hunter (R-Ca)

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

former NY governor George Pataki

Cong. Ron Paul (R-Tx)***

former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney****

Cong. Mike Simpson (R-Id)

Cong. Tom Tancredo (R-Co)

Fred Thompson

Tommy Thompson (former Gov. of Wi)

*-my personal choice for the Dem nomination, but I will probably vote for Hillary

**- the other actor in the race (hey, he was in "Anger Management")

***- my personal choice for the GOP nomination, which is why I'm not a Republican

****- also known as the Republican Michael Dukakis

for more info:

http://www.c-span.org

http://www.votesmart.org

http://www.npr.org