Just how crazy could the Republican's 2016 field get?

Oh, let us count the ways

by Kerry Eleveld

Republican National Committee Chairwimp Reince Priebus has a problem: there's no end in sight to the GOP's fertile 2016 field. And where that's concerned, we don't think there can ever be too much of a good thing. On Rand, on Rubio, on Walker and Bush! On Carly and Christie and Carson and Cruz! But the fun doesn't end there—as many as a dozen to 20-plus candidates could be elbowing each other for room on the debate stage, reports Niall Stanage.

“You’ve got to prevent it from becoming a ‘WWE SmackDown’ event on national television,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. “You don’t want to bump everybody off the stage, but you have to realize your overarching goal is protecting the eventual nominee.” “I would think that Reince Priebus has been thinking about exactly this issue, and also about how to ensure that the debates don’t turn into the ideological bloodfest that we saw in 2012, which pushed the whole ticket to the right,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

So just who are we talking about here? There's the definites (if undeclared): Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker.
There's the expected to announce: Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson.
There's the flirting with the idea: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
And then there's simply "other:"

Other possible candidates include South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham; businessman Donald Trump; Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mike Pence of Indiana; former Govs. Rick Perry of Texas, George Pataki of New York, Bob Ehrlich of Maryland and Jim Gilmore of Virginia; former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum; former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton; and New York Rep. Pete King.

Yee-haw! Reince Priebus, who once bragged about "taking control" of the presidential debate process, may have spoken just a touch too soon. Too bad he prioritized that over reaching out to women, minorities, and young voters. Soldier on, Reince!