Running for president is not unlike marriage - the triumph of hope over experience.
But like a conga line, the list of presidential hopefuls keeps on growing. Mitt Romney, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, was the latest to set up an "exploratory committee" - the first step of a presidential campaign - this week.
The ever-useful Rasmussen Reports lists no fewer than eight possible Republican candidates.
They include Mike Hackabee, the governor of Arkansas, and Duncan Hunter, a California congressman, whose names probably mean little to most Americans, let alone to those of us on this side of the pond. To call them long shots would be an understatement.
So far, according to the polls, the Republican contest is a two-horse race between John McCain, the Arizona senator who favours a troop increase in Iraq, and Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who impressed many with his calm authority in the aftermath of 9/11.
Mr Giuliani holds an early lead over Mr McCain, but commentators wonder whether his liberal views on abortion and gays will hurt him with the Republican base in the south.
Over in the Democratic camp, the list of declared and possible candidates is even longer. CQ Politics.com mentions 12 names, including the former vice president Al Gore, although Mr Gore keeps denying any political ambition.
Interestingly, Mr Gore or Hillary Clinton fare best in match-ups against either Mr McCain or Mr Giuliani - but, according to the Rasmussen Reports polling numbers, they would still lose.
