GOP POTUS bench full of walk-ons for '16

Columnist Russell Baker used to write a lot about The Great Mentioner, the mysterious source who gets people into the press as potential presidential candidates.



Not that Mr. Haney has officially snarled his candidacy, the Republican party now has three declared candidates for the presidency (Waldo's favorite is straight out of central casting: Mark Everson, former deputy commissioner of immigration and naturlization under Ronaldus Magnus and commissioner of the IRS under Dubya. In a TV series he would have to be played by actor Charles Lane).

But this season, it seems, The Great Mentioner just can't stop talking. According to one source, behind the three declared candidates, there  are eight more "formally exploring" a run; fourteen giving it some thought; twenty three more who have just gotten Mentioned; and thirteen who, apparently, want to stand out by being the handful of Republicans, anywhere on earth, who are not running for President.