Free-For-All 2008: Something Old, Something New

The best news article of this month’s presidential pretension is Mother Jones’ Diddly Awards. My favorite was the anecdote about Condi Rice, whose rumored presidential ambitions simply won't die:

Condoleezza Rice (Secretary of State), who experienced a moment of candor when a Russian radio interviewer asked if she would run in 2008. "Da," replied Rice, who speaks fluent Russian, before adding, "Nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet!"

That kind of denial won't get her taken off the chatter rankings any time soon. The biggest news this month is that no one has yet been kicked off: the field is getting wider still, not narrower. Also, Senators Frist and Clinton have remained atop their respective columns for a few months now. The new faces include Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee - "the other man from Hope" - as well as Democratic Senators Harry Reid and Barack Obama and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. Obama edged his way into the rankings slowly, having been tested but not quite qualifying in previous months. Huckabee dieted his way in: last week he announced that he had lost 100 pounds, making a big news splash. It may not be a presidential moment, but face (and figure?) recognition are always good at this stage. As for Vilsack and Reid, I was simply remiss in not testing them in previous months. If I'm missing any more candidates, please tell me! Besides Huckabee, the other artificially high candidates are Governor Pataki, who announced that he will not run for another term and, as always, those in high-profile positions.

Rank	Candidate	Chatter	Rank Change
R.1	Sen. Bill Frist	1,500	0
R.2	Gov. George Pataki	1,100	+10
R.3	Gov. Mitt Romney	932	0
R.4	Sen. John McCain	751	-2
R.5	Newt Gingrich	387	+6
R.6	Gov. Mike Huckabee	317	new
R.7	Sen. Sam Brownback	314	+1
R.8	Secy. Condoleezza Rice	276	-3
R.9	Gov. Jeb Bush	273	-2
R.10	Sen. George Allen	249	0
R.11	Rudy Giuliani	203	-2
R.12	Sen. Chuck Hagel	173	-6
R.13	V.P. Dick Cheney	158	-9
...............	...............................................	.......................	...............
D.1	Sen. Hillary Clinton	1,920	0
D.2	Sen. John Kerry	663	0
D.3	Gov. Mark Warner	655	+3
D.4	Gov. Tom Vilsack	619	new
D.5	Sen. Harry Reid	468	new
D6	Sen. Evan Bayh	434	-3
D.7	Howard Dean	425	0
D.8	Sen. John Edwards	387	-4
D.9	Gov. Bill Richardson	304	-1
D.10	Sen. Joseph Biden	158	-5
D.11	Sen. Barack Obama	153	new

Notes: The Chatter Rankings are created by searching each candidate's name plus "2008" in the Google News database. This month's tested-but-not-qualifying list is Russ Feingold and Dick Gephardt. Compare this month's results to those of July, June, and May to get an idea of candidate trajectories.