With Ted Cruz announcing his candidacy for president, the 2016 race officially kicks off.

He is the first of what promises to be a crowded Republican field. I can only hope for a vigorous Democratic campaign as well, though the main narrative now is that Hillary Clinton is the front runner and only top candidate who may run.

I can't believe Democrats won't come out and challenge her, as it stands that giving up a chance to run in 2016 means a Democrat plans to sit out potentially 10 years of campaigning for nation's top political job. Whoever wins in 2016 will seek reelection in 2020 and, as both Obama, Bush and Bill Clinton proved, no matter how unpopular you end up, it's hard to unseat an incumbent.

The preliminary act in the campaign season was for Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, to announce he would not run. How quickly will the next candidates come? Who will challenge Clinton? I hope someone does, as the key to a healthy democracy is consideration of a wealth of ideas and the more candidates the better.

And how will journalists cover the candidates?


So far, the most interesting piece I've read about the upcoming race is how journalists will cover the candidates who deny climate change. Jay Rosen's piece is highlighted with the idea of journalism as finding evidence and shaping beliefs and actions.

With science almost fully accepting that climate change comes from human activity, to deny that is to deny evidence. What method should journalists take with reporting that part of this race?

Read more of Rosen's analysis here.