Philip Delves-Broughton

Running wild | 4 June 2015

Laughably improbable candidates are an essential part of the process — and many of them do pretty well out of it…

issue 06 June 2015

 New York

‘There’ll be a ten-year waiting list.’

It takes a strange bird to run for the White House. To think you’re worth all the fund-raising, the protection, the applause, the haters, the heel-clicking Marines. But with a mere 18 months till the next election, the field is taking shape: Hillary Clinton, still pitching herself as the nation’s benevolent grandma even after it emerged that she and her husband had in the past year raked in $25 million in speaking fees; Jeb Bush, 30 pounds lighter on his ‘paleo’ diet, trying to prove he’s not the Pete Best of the Bush family; and tucked in behind, various curiosities from the Senate (Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul) and governors’ mansions (Chris Christie of New Jersey), all hoping they can channel some mysterious electoral force.

And then there are the carnival acts, hovering on the fringes, tempted by the spotlight and career boost a presidential run can bring.

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