the road to oz sure is getting crowded. on the democrat side so far we have edwards, obama, kucinich, dodd, (maybe richardson), and a few others. lining up for the republicans so far we have giuliani, romney, mccain, duncan hunter, possibly mike huckabee, possibly newt gingrich, and TBA(to be announced). i’m yawning. you can’t see it, but trust me, it’s happening.

saturday we had two more entrants in the political sweepstakes that the presidency of the United States has become.

senator sam brownback (who?) (r-ks) is now in:

My family and I are taking the first steps on the yellow brick road to the White House…

give him points for originality and a clever kansas reference. social conservatives will find much to like about senator brownback on issues of concern to them. it should also please a few people that he opposes the president’s iraq troop surge. is he too far right to gain support of the rest of the republican party who may not take such a hard line on abortion, gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research, and other such cultural issues? maybe. he does support amnesty for illegals, which isn’t a very popular position to hold in today’s republican party. the bottom line for me is that i want someone who can beat hillary. i just don’t think brownback is that guy.

senator rodham also let slip the worst-kept secret in DC relating to her future plans:

I’m in. And I’m in to win.

Today I am announcing that I will form an exploratory committee to run for president.

And I want you to join me not just for the campaign but for a conversation about the future of our country — about the bold but practical changes we need to overcome six years of Bush administration failures.

I am going to take this conversation directly to the people of America, and I’m starting by inviting all of you to join me in a series of web chats over the next few days.

the great hillary wants to chat with us mortals. she is even allowing one lucky soul to have the chance to write a guest post at her new campaign blog. i am so tempted to write something, but i will leave it to more talented bloggers than myself to take advantage of this priceless opportunity. does she really want to know what the average american thinks? i guess we will find out.

just a word of advice to john edwards and barack obama…watch out for the flying monkeys.

tags: ’08 election, sam brownback, hillary clinton, yellow brick road