WASHINGTON (AP) – In a presidential campaign, you only get one Opening Day.
For Ted Cruz, it was a simple speech on a college campus: no notes, no teleprompter – and no choice for the students required to be there. Rand Paul packed a hotel ballroom with loyalists and dazzled them with videos and goofy campaign swag.
Up next is Marco Rubio, who appears ready to enter the race Monday and will surely spend the weekend wondering if Hillary Rodham Clinton will ruin his moment with a Sunday night message that she’s getting in, too.
“No matter when you do it, you have the problem of butting against somebody else, and if that somebody else is Hillary Clinton, it’s going to take a lot of the air out of the room,” said John Brabender, an adviser to expected GOP candidate Rick Santorum.
For what’s expected to be a field of as many as two dozen candidates, the formal announcement sets the stage for what they hope will be a triumphant march to the White House. Most are carefully choreographed, some struggle to draw attention, and each sends a signal to voters about whether they’re watching a contender or just another soon-to-be has-been.