Neither Chris Christie nor Hillary Clinton have committed to running for president in 2016, but new research shows the pair has gotten more media attention than any other potential candidates in the race.
The
Pew Research Center looked back at the 2014 media coverage centered around the election and discovered that Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, was mentioned as a presidential candidate in 82 newspaper stories through September. In stories about Democratic candidates, Clinton was mentioned in the same number.
There were far more Republicans than Democrats mentioned in 2016 election stories; 12 names follow Christie on the Republican side, while Clinton is ahead of just three people.
Former Massachusetts governor and two-time presidential candidate Mitt Romney was second on the list of Republicans with 74 mentions, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (68), Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (67), Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (both 53), Texas Gov. Rick Perry (48), and several others.
Behind Clinton was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (22), Vice President Joe Biden (18), and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (16).
The Pew numbers show that 541 newspaper stories have been written about the presidential election through September of this year, which is nearly double the number (271) during the same period in 2010 leading up to the 2012 election.
The first nine months of 2006 saw 460 campaign stories written about the 2008 election.
There could be several reasons for the uptick in coverage this year. For one, the George Washington Bridge
lane-closing scandal dogged Christie earlier this year and resulted in several stories being written about him and his political future. And the recent discussion of Mitt Romney potentially making
a third White House run has sparked conversation and stories.
Clinton has remained in the spotlight via speeches, appearances, and also her daughter Chelsea, who was working for NBC and who just gave birth.
Clinton, however, has failed to rally powerful donors up to this point, as a number of them
are refusing to throw their weight behind her possible White House run.
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