WASHINGTON — The Republican presidential field has a CEO, a doctor, three senators and one senator-doctor. On Tuesday, when Donald Trump announced that he planned to join the bunch, it got its first reality TV star.
Even before Trump jumped into the race, however, the logic of reality TV has had an effect on all the GOP campaigns.
The cast of candidates vying to be president includes some who have joined the race for the same reasons aging sitcom stars put on their dancing shoes and learn to tango. They know they have little chance of winning, but even losing could be good for their careers.
The rise of long-shot, nontraditional candidates is a growing trend, particularly in the recent open Republican contests. None will publicly admit it, but as was true four years ago, several candidates appear to be using the presidential race more as a springboard to television or radio punditry or the speaking circuit than as a contest to actually win office.
Some need to expand their donor base. Others may walk away with a book deal. All that’s required is a healthy ego and a few donors.
“You have a category of people who exist in that fuzzy space where celebrity and politics meet in our culture. You’ve seen, increasingly, a number of those candidates running,” said Steve Schmidt, a GOP strategist.
The trend gives some traditionalists pause and some party operatives heartburn as they try to manage a freewheeling and growing field.
The sheer number of candidates this year has created problems for Republican officials. Four years ago, the largest candidate debates had eight participants. This year, the party has struggled to find a way to limit the cast to 10 — with the knowledge that some, like Trump, who come with high name recognition, could push aside lesser-known but more substantive hopefuls like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
As Mitt Romney did four years ago, this year’s straight-laced candidates will have to learn to run alongside less predictable counterparts.
The reason Republicans seem to have attracted more nontraditional candidates than Democrats may be a function of timing. The rise of social media and digital fundraising has coincided with three consecutive open races for the GOP nomination.
“More people are running now, frankly, because social media allows you to launch a campaign without the funds in the bank or the organization on the ground,” said Lee Edwards, an expert on the conservative movement at the Heritage Foundation. “Some of these candidates are banking on exposure through things like the debate … We know that if so-and-so is a presidential candidate he can charge a higher fee for speaking, for an article or for a book contract.”
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