It’s been fun coming up with a new fantasy presidential candidate every couple of weeks: Sarah Palin, Paul Ryan, now Chris Christie. But the time for speculation is coming to an end soon thanks to some hard deadlines for getting on the ballot in key states.For awhile now, pundits have been talking up the chances of a late entrant to the race by noting that Bill Clinton didn’t announce until October 3, 1991. But state deadlines were also much later that year. Mario Cuomo, who many considered the frontrunner at the time, was considered a possible candidate right up until the filing date for the New Hampshire primary in late December, when he announced 90 minutes before the deadline that he would not run.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=106640