The race for President of the United States of America is heating up as many candidates have announced that they are officially running for our nations’ highest office. It is a crowded field on the Republican side already and the Democrats have a nice number also in the running.

On the Republican side the following candidates have officially put their hats in the ring:

 Ted Cruz, US Senator from the state of Texas.

Rand Paul, US Senator from the state of Kentucky

Marco Rubio, US Senator from the state of Florida

Ben Carson, was the director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopinks (Hospital)

Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard

Mike Huckabee, the former Governor of Arkansas

Rick Santorum, former US Senator from the state of Pennsylvania

George Pataki, former Governor of New York

Lindsey Graham, US Senator from the state of South Carolina

Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas

Jeb Bush, former Governor of the state of Florida

Donald Trump, President and Chairman of The Trump Organization

Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana

Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin  added 7/13/2015

Quite a list and it still may grow or even shrink in the near future.

The candidates running as Democrats as of now are:

Hillary Clinton, former US Senator from New York and former Secretary of State

Bernie Sanders, US Senator from Vermont

Martian O’Malley, former Governor of Maryland

Lincoln Chafee, former Governor of Rhode Island

Not as long a list of candidates as the Republicans, but a goodly number. Now that you know who is in the running I will talk about some of the issues.

You can use this link to find out more about each of the candidates that are now running or maybe running.

The number one issue is Healthcare and what will happen if a Republican wins. Will Obamacare survive or will it be placed in the wastebasket of political solutions? And if it stays in affect how will it look? Only the future holds the answers.

Another big issue is the Keystone XL pipeline. The Republicans want it for its effect on lessening our energy dependence on foreign oil and it will create jobs. While the Democrats think that it will be an environmental disaster.

Of course there is the controversy of Same-Sex Marriage and should it be allowed? Many states now allow Same-Sex Marriage and while it is an important issue to some to many it is a no go from the start. This is a hot issue in the LGBT community and the Bible Belt for the most part.

While there are other important issues, for the most part they are connected with specific candidates. And I will not address them at this time. Maybe when the field thins out I will revisit the issues and the candidates.

All I can say for now is that this is certainly going to be an interesting Presidential race.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike