There are 28 other possible or rumored candidates:
Sharon AngleX,
Joe ArpaioX,
Haley BarbourX,
Micheal BloombergX,
Scott BrownX,
Jeb BushX,
Eric CantorX,
Dick CheneyX,
Bob CorkerX,
John Cornyn,
Charlie CristX,
Tom Coburn,
Jim DeMintX,
John EnsignX,
Luis FortunoX,
Tim Gay,
Lindsey Graham,
Judd GreggX,
Charles Harvey ,
Bobby JindalX,
Steve KingX,
Stanley McChrystal,
Thad McCotterX,
Bob McDonnallX,
Jimmy McMillan X,
Tom Miller X,
Roy MooreX,
Carl Paladino,
George PatakiX,
Rand PaulX,
Mike PenceX,
Rick PerryX,
David PetraeusX,
Bob Riley X,
Wayne Allyn RootX,
Marco RubioX,
Becky Rusher X,
Paul RyanX,
Mark SanfordX,
Joe Scarborough,
Gary Sinise,
Clarence Thomas,
John ThuneX,
Allen WestX,
Meg Whitman,
Vern Wuensche X
^ Even the Draft Cheney 2012 website says "He is not running for President or any other office." X
^ Andy Martin calls himself "a strong supporter of the War on Terror" X but wants to bring US troops home from Iraq. X Whether his score is a 2 or a 5 depends on whether or not Iraq is part of the War on Terror, itself a point of political contention. I split the difference and gave him a 3.
^ Obama supports the 2nd Amendment at the federal level, but supports the rights of state and local governments to pass local gun bansX.
^ Ron Paul said, "I think we’re much better off talking to the Chinese and trading with the Chinese, and they have an interest in staying peaceful with us, as we have an interest on them". I think that says it all. X
^ Ron Paul supports free trade, but opposes massively international free trade agreements such as the WTO or NAFTA on the basis that the mandate that we provide free trade removes the freedom of our choice and, thus, erodes our sovereignty. X He wants to reform that system and establish direct free trade agreements with specific countries on a one-on-one basis, but the political issue of free trade agreements as is typically meant by the term means the kinds of international bureaucracies Paul opposes. His position is a little too nuanced for my 1-5 rating system, but he does oppose the kinds of free trade agreements we actually make these days so he gets a 1 (strongly opposed).
^ Mitt Romney advocated for a health care mandate for Massachusetts while he was governor, but he opposes a nation-wide system on the basis of states' rights.
^ Mitt Romney opposed the 50˘ per gallon gas tax increase attached to a McCain-Lieberman billX, but he effectively raised gas taxes by 2˘ per gallon during his governorship and keeps them on the table during bipartisan negotiationsX.
^ Mitt Romney has consistently supported some action in Libya and just as consistently criticized Obama's specific choices X. His principles for how Obama should have preceded have been less consistent X.
^ Rick Santorum opposes abortion in the cases of rape, incest, and even considers Plan-B (the morning-after pill) to be immoral abortion. He does support an exception to save the mother's life. He also supports the mandatory notification of the parents of minors who cross state lines for an abortion.X He would probably consider embryonic stem cell research to be unethical human experimentation.
^ Rick Santorum voted against a proposed ban on affirmative action in 1995 X.
^ Rick Santorum actually favors the repeal of Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell to be replaced with a policy of punishing homosexual sexual behavior by soldiers X. He considers tolerance of homosexuality among soldiers to be a social experiment at the expense of national security and soldiers' safety X.
^ Rick Santorum twice voted against expanding the definition of a hate crime, once in 2000 X and once in 2002 X.
^ Rick Santorum considers school vouchers to be giving the poor the same education options the rich already enjoy X. He has voted in support of charter schools and school vouchers X.