CANDIDATES

At last count there were 57 candidates running for the Republican nomination, but just a handful of Democrats. The RNC is thinking of renting a large hall just for the candidates so that all of them can get into the debate. There won’t be enough room for an audience, so they will have to televise the show. Most of the possible Democratic runners seem to be afraid that they have no chance against Hillary. Lincoln Chafee just threw his hat into the Democratic ring. He was a Republican until he became an independent, but he has turned into a Democrat for the race. Word on the street has it that he was going to call himself a Socialist until he found out that Bernie Sanders had already done that.

Where is Carl Perrin in all this? He has not been pursuing a very aggressive campaign, but lately Ben Carson’s example has been inspiring Perrin. In the 16 months since Carson began making presidential sounds, he and his wife have earned between $8.9 million and $27 million. All this comes from speeches, books, and corporate boards. This sounds pretty good to Perrin. As an English professor he is used to making speeches.  His lecture on some of the finer points of grammar should go over big. He already has the books, including one made up of excerpts from his blog on his 2008 campaign: My Run for the White House or How I Tried to Save Cheap Beer for America. He wouldn’t mind sitting on some corporate boards. All he would have to do is sit there and look wise. He’d be good at that.

The main reason Perrin is running is to get the money. If he could make a pile of dough without going to Washington, that would be okay with him.