Lower Tier Potential Presidential Candidates

CBS: While attention has focused on possible frontrunners such former Democratic Sen. John Edwards, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore and, on the Republican side, Sen. John McCain, Govs. Mitt Romney and George Pataki, and Rudolph Giuliani. Former NATO Commander Gen. Wesley Clark, Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, Sen. Joe Biden, and Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Duncan Hunter are also all either running or considering runs. But who may be below the radar, declared and still deciding, who could give the top-tier a run for its money?

The Republicans:
Mike Huckabee: Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas comes to the race with three winning assets: he's a governor, a Southerner, and a Baptist minister.
Sam Brownback: Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is hoping to gain leverage by appealing to the conservative wing of his party, and there's a good chance he'll succeed.
Newt Gingrich: As architect of the Contract with America that led the Republicans to take back the House in 1994, Newt Gingrich is the best-known of the second-tier candidates.

The Democrats:
Bill Richardson: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's biggest advantage is his resume. He has decades of Washington experience, first as a staffer in the State Department and for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, then as a eight-term U.S. representative, next, briefly, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and finally as secretary of energy under President Clinton.
Evan Bayh: Sen. Evan Bayh comes to the race with the advantage of having both Washington and gubernatorial experience. He was a two-term Indiana governor, and has been a senator since 1998.
Tom Vilsack: Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack recently drew a flurry of national attention by becoming the first presidential candidate to formally enter the 2008 race. Vilsack is the first Democratic governor in a traditionally red state in three decades. Read More