Is this typical? re: candidates for parties

[rugbywife]

So I was just reading up on some stuff online regarding the US election and found this:



Is it typical that there would be so many more candidates for the Republican leadership than for the Democrats?  I don't think I have followed closely enough in previous elections to know...

[sushi]

This is not particularly normal. That's why we refer to it as the clown car.

[aurora]

I do think it is normal that at some stage if there is a heavily favored, presumed candidate (e.g., the incumbent President or someone like Hilary Clinton, whom people have pegged for the nominee for many years now) that you'll get fewer candidates on that side for that election.

But, the ratio this year is definitely skewed.

[msmerymac]

No, this is the largest slate of Republican candidates ever, I believe.

However, it's a result of what's been going on in the parties over the past few years. Hillary Clinton has been seen as the presumptive nominee, so you probably have fewer Democrats who are running, or who have been groomed for the past few years to run. Without Clinton you might see people like Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, maybe Andrew Cuomo (governor of NY) running, but none has as good of a shot as HRC. Martin O'Malley has a very remote shot, so it doesn't really matter who else is running, if that makes sense. Bernie Sanders caucuses with the Democrats, but he's technically an independent and not beholden to the party leadership.

The Republicans have a sort of fractured base with no clear, presumptive nominee, or at least not one the whole party would agree on. That's why there were 3 factions in the House of Representatives that all had to come together to be satisfied with Paul Ryan as speaker of the house. (A moderate faction, conservative faction, and ultra-conservative, tea-party faction). So right now, you have the "moderate" party standard candidates running, like Jeb Bush. You have the far-right conservatives running, like Ted Cruz. And you have the anti-establishment, anti-party candidates running, like Donald Trump.

Also, while the parties can technically help/support a candidate, they don't have much say in whether or not an individual chooses to run. They can probably discuss it with them and suggest certain things, but it's up to the candidate whether or not he or she wants to do it.