By Richard Winger Presidential primary filing has now closed in fifteen states. In every Republican presidential primary so far, there are at least twelve candidates on the ballot. That is a stark difference from the past. If one looks at the previous election years in which a Republican president was not running for re-election, there were always some Republican presidential primaries with many fewer candidates. Examples: in 2012, Virginia had two; in 2008, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Oregon had two; in 2000, D.C., Indiana, New Jersey, and Oregon had two; in 1996, Arkansas, D.C., Indiana, New Jersey, and …read more