Des Moines Register: “The GOP caucuses have never seen more than nine contestants; that high-water mark was in 1996. The field is usually six to eight. The lowest winning percentage was Rick Santorum’s 24.6 percent in 2012, when there were essentially six competitors. The winning percentage could be less than 20 percent in 2016, given the enormity of the field.”
“The GOP menu could include eight governors, including five current (New Jersey’s Chris Christie, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Ohio’s John Kasich, Michigan’s Rick Snyder and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker) and three former (Florida’s Jeb Bush, Arkansas’ Huckabee and Texas’ Rick Perry), five U.S. senators, including four current (South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, who is serving his third term; and three first-term senators, Texas’ Ted Cruz, Kentucky’s Rand Paul and Florida’s Marco Rubio) and one former, Santorum of Pennsylvania, plus three non-politicians (Carson, Fiorina and real estate entrepreneur Donald Trump). That’s a lineup of 16. There could easily be more…”

