Enjoy an interesting race while it lasts

Who is going to lead our country in little more than a year?

More than 500 people have registered with the Federal Election Commission for the job, including a cat named Limberbutt McCubbins, a student registered as “Sydneys Voluptuous Buttocks” and, most recently, an Iowa man that goes by the name Deez Nuts. Oh, and there’s also a Democrat named Hillary Clinton and a Republican named Donald Trump and more than a dozen other well-backed GOPers.

The horses are out of the gate, and as of yet none have pulled back on the reins — not even furry Mr. McCubbins. So who is going to win this derby?

Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the better part of a decade, has been unsurprisingly dogged by scandal.

That has left an opening on the left, filled by Vermont Independent and Socialist Bernie Sanders, who has been electrifying his growing crowds. There is even the low rumble that Joe Biden is still considering the job. There are another handful of Democrats who have yet to find their footing.

It looks, still, that Hillary is in good shape. She has a war chest no other Democrat can touch and an experience — eight years as First Lady, four as Secretary of State — that no presidential candidate has ever had, though the former didn’t help her much in 2004. Still, she defeats any of the top Republicans handily in head-to-head battles. That, as much as anything, will unite the Democratic establishment around her. So who will the Republicans unite around?

That’s not as easy a question to answer.

Donald Trump leads the polls right now, suggesting a total rewrite of the Constitution to solve immigration, and insulting plenty of ethnic groups and an entire gender along the way. But if the presidential campaign season is a circus, why not have a clown? Trump is clearly the candidate to fill that role, and it’s great for comedians and anarchists that he stay in the race for as long as possible.

The rest are jockeying for position. Jeb Bush has the big money and the big name, but has yet to push to the fore. Ted Cruz has been overshadowed by the Donald. Rand Paul still might have the best hair. John Kasich has become the likable favorite of moderates. Scott Walker and Marco Rubio have every chance to carry the GOP torch. Chris Christie and Ben Carson and Rick Perry and Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee are just prolonging the inevitable.

Although it’s not inevitable, perhaps the most likely outcome — Clinton v. Bush again for all the marbles — would be so dynastic and monarchical as to be anti-American. What a disappointment that would be after such a strange and fun and wild (and way too early) start to the campaign.

Since that matchup looms large on the horizon, we recommend enjoying the wildness and unpredictability of the current horse race. Because pretty soon, we may be down to two candidates who are too well polished and too well known to surprise us.