While some likely candidates for president look to be hurrying to start their campaigns, many others appear content to wait.
Sens. Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are expected to launch their presidential bids in late March or April to coincide with the Senate recess and the start of a new fundraising quarter.
Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is also eyeing an April start date, according to reports.
At the same time, others, such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are still “a few months’ time” from any public decision.
“In a few months’ time — I’m not sure exactly when — I’ll make up my mind,” Bush said last Thursday during a swing through South Carolina, Bloomberg reported.
By this stage, most potential candidates have decided whether they will run. But the calculation of whether to jump into the 2016 fray imminently or to wait requires a delicate balance of logistics and politics.
Clinton, who will likely have little problem raising money or winning her party’s nomination, has faced pressure from donors and supporters to begin her campaign soon, so that she might be in a position to fend off Republican attacks and begin to define herself as a candidate.
For Bush, there’s no such rush. As one of many Republicans running for president, he has faced only a fraction of Democrats’ firepower, and he has assembled a robust campaign-in-waiting to shape his message and deflect attacks. Plus, Bush is able use donors’ private planes for his travel and solicit multi-million-dollar contributions for as long as he’s not officially a presidential candidate.
“If you’re Jeb, you want to put it off as long as possible,” said one 2016 Republican fundraiser. “He’s flying around on private jets asking for $1 million.”
Senators, however, are subject to campaign finance rules that prohibit them from taking advantage of limitless donations and comped travel. The sooner they can begin raising money, the better — just not before the start of the next fundraising quarter.
For Rubio, there is an added consideration: his Senate seat. While Cruz will not be up for re-election in 2016, and Paul plans to run simultaneously for the Senate and president, Rubio has said he will not run for two offices at once. Should he run for president, as expected, he will be under pressure from Republicans to decide soon, so that they might recruit a candidate to run for his seat.
Although there is a likely window this spring in which a herd of candidates will announce their presidential bids, the details are still fuzzy.
Paul, who has long been candid about his plans to run for the presidency, has been relatively open about his plans to announce his campaign. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that the Kentucky senator will make his bid official April 7 at a hotel in Louisville, an event for which invitations have been sent to some supporters and donors.
Most others, however, are treating their timelines like closely guarded state secrets, until closer to the moment when their campaigns will officially begin.
When the Washington Examiner asked Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is weighing a run for president as a Democrat, for any details about his time frame, he ducked into a Senate elevator. “I can’t give you any information about that right now,” he said.
