Thanks for the data, TF. That gives us a preliminary schedule of sorts to think with.
Yup. About 2 months and a week until the November elections.
Then, 6 months or so until the 1st debate.
I’m cutting and pasting from Wikipedia on when candidates announced last time.
On December 19, 2006, Gilmore announced he would form an exploratory committee to “fill the conservative void” in the race. On January 9, 2007, Gilmore officially filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to form the Jim Gilmore for President Exploratory Committee.[15]
After first announcing the formation of an exploratory committee in late 2006, Thompson announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election on April 1, 2007.
On December 4, 2006, Brownback formed an exploratory committee, thus taking the first steps toward candidacy. He announced his Presidential bid as of December 5, 2006 on his website.[67]
On January 16, 2007, Tancredo announced that he formed an exploratory committee on seeking the presidential nomination of the Republican Party.
On October 30, 2006, Hunter announced his intention to consider running for the Republican nomination for President in 2008. Hunter formally announced his presidential candidacy in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on January 25, 2007.[39]
At the end of March, Thompson asked to be released from his television contract, potentially in preparation for a presidential bid.[7] Thompson formed a presidential exploratory committee regarding his possible 2008 campaign for president on June 1, 2007.
In November 2006 Giuliani announced the formation of an exploratory committee toward a run for President of the United States in 2008. In February 2007 he filed a “statement of candidacy” and confirmed on the television program Larry King Live that he was indeed running.[130]
On January 3, 2007, two days before he stepped down as governor of Massachusetts, Romney filed to form a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission.[1][1] Subsequently, on February 13, 2007, he formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president in 2008.[2]
On January 27, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Huckabee, planned to file papers to form a presidential exploratory committee. He announced his run for the White House on Meet the Press on January 28, 2007.[11]
Ron Paul formed a presidential exploratory committee on January 11.[19] He also acquired data on public interest in his running for President around February 19.[20] Based on the results from the exploratory committee and polling, Paul officially entered the race on March 12.[20][21]
McCain informally announced his candidacy on the Wednesday, February 28, 2007 telecast of the Late Show With David Letterman. He then announced his formal candidacy for the presidency of the United States on Wednesday, April 25, 2007.