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Move over, Mitt: 154 candidates already registered for 2016

If the field of potential 2016 presidential candidates seems crowded, take a look at the list of official candidates: There are already 154 people who have formally registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as a presidential candidate, as the Center for Public Integrity has noted.

You won't find Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton or Chris Christie on that list yet. Instead, it includes mostly unknown individuals like Thomas Francis Winterbottom, a Democratic candidate from Pottstown, Pennsylvania who has mounted multiple failed federal campaigns. One of the more familiar names on the list is Terry Jones, the infamous Florida pastor who made headlines after burning a Quran.

There are 26 Democrats officially registered as 2016 candidates, 45 Republicans, three Libertarians, 39 independents, one Reform party candidate and several more candidates from other parties.

According to campaign law, a candidate for federal office must register with the FEC within 15 days of becoming a candidate. Aside from registering, an individual becomes a candidate in one of three ways: 1. once they have received contributions in excess of $5,000, 2. once they've made expenditures for their campaign in excess of $5,000, or 3. once they've given consent to another person to collect or spend money on their behalf, and that person has crossed the $5,000 threshold.

Any money raised or spent for the purpose of exploring a candidacy don't count.

And conveniently for the potential major 2016 candidates, there are ways to raise money to support one's prospective campaign apparatus without actually declaring. For instance, former Gov. Jeb Bush recently launched a leadership PAC, which allows him to raise money for other political candidates -- and money to pay for his own political travels and expenses.

Bush's allies are also establishing a super PAC, an entity that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money supporting a candidate -- so long as it doesn't coordinate with that candidate or his campaign. Since Bush technically isn't a candidate yet, that isn't a concern for him and his allies at the moment.

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