“Every single candidate other than Donald Trump on the Republican side has no chance of being president or getting the Republican nomination,” said Jeff Timmer, a senior adviser to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and the former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party.
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Perry Johnson, the Michigan businessman who is desperately trying to get on the debate stage by selling $1 “I stand with Tucker” t-shirts on Facebook, is among the many longshot candidates running this year. In an interview with POLITICO as he was barnstorming Iowa, he bragged about his single-digit standing in the polls (“On Friday, I was at 1.4%!”), hawked the website for his reality TV show from the trail (“first time in history where anybody could really see what it is truly like running for president!”) and dismissed suggestions that he had ulterior motives for running.

“To you,” he said, “this sounds ridiculous. I expect to win.”

Asked what it means that so many also-rans like him saw something missing in the field, Johnson said: “It tells us that there is the possibility that Trump may not be the answer.”

There are more traditional presidential candidates who have been accused of running sheerly to angle for the vice presidency or an administration post.

Tim Scott, who entered the race with few enemies within the party, has been widely seen as someone well suited for a deep veepstakes bid. His own name recognition isn’t particularly high — something his campaign is seeking to remedy with a $6 million ad buy in Iowa and New Hampshire leading up to the first debate.

And nearly three decades ago, in an interview with the Charleston Post and Courier, the then-30-year-old said one of his goals in life was to be vice president — because he’d get to “speak more and have a forum to deliver messages.”

Tim Scott, who entered the race with few enemies within the party, has been widely seen as someone well suited for a deep veepstakes bid.