May 5, 2015 - Its been a busy week in presidential politics as four more candidates have entered the race. Until now  Hillary Clinton had the Democratic field entirely to herself , but last Thursday Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont made it official when he announced he would run for the Democratic Party nomination.

Sanders, 73, is an Independent who normally caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate. He said he would register as a Democrat if necessary to win the nomination. Sanders made a nice splash in fundraising after his announcement when he promptly raised $1.5 million dollars online for his campaign. That will sure pay for a lot of Bernie Sanders for President campaign buttons!

On the Republican side three more candidates have now entered the quest for the White House,  Dr Ben Carson, former Hewlett - Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Carson, 63, is a retired neurosurgeon who in 1987 became the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins joined at the head. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2008. Carson became a favorite of conservatives when he delivered a speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast where he explained his ideas on political correctness, health care, taxation and education. In the latest polling , Carson has the support of 7% those polled. This is Carson's first run for political office.

Fiorina , 60, in addition to her  time at Hewlett - Packard, was an executive at AT&T and at Lucent. This will be Fiorina's second run for political office. In 2010, she ran for the U.S. Senate from Californian losing to California's long time Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. Currently Fiorina is registering at just 1% in the latest political opinion poll.

Huckabee , 59, begins his second quest for the presidency having been a candidate in 2008. Despite wining the 2008 Iowa Caucus and several other states including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee he could not over come the campaign of John McCain who would go on to win the 2008 Republican nomination. Huckabee is currently registering in the latest poll with 5%.

In the newest polling, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is the leading the Republican field with 23% followed by , Senator Marco Rubio of Florida with 18%, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker with 14%, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas both with 11% and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie with 5%.

In regards to Christie , the last week brought some news on the long running George Washington Bridge scandal when three of his former allies were indicted in relation to the lane closures. U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul Fishman in a press conference about the indictments said there was not evidence that Christie was involved in the September 2013 lane closures on the bridge. Christie has attempted to spin this as a vindication that he had nothing to do with the lane closures. The view of the political world has so far been divided as to whether Christie can still be considered a viable candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

In other news Hillary Clinton has agreed to appear before the House Select Committee on Benghazi to answer questions before the end of May. The committee had wanted Clinton to appear on two separate occasions to answer questions about  Benghazi and the use of emails during her tenure at Secretary of State. Clinton's lawyer David Kendall said that she would appear on one day and stay as long as was necessary to answer the questions on the two topics.

Despite the controversy of the emails, Clinton continues to lead in potential 2016 general election match ups. Here are the results Clinton 49% vs Bush 43%, Clinton 49% vs Rubio 43%, Clinton 47% vs Paul 43% and Clinton 50% vs Walker 40%.