TOPEKA, Kansas (CNN) -- Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, became the second member of Congress on Saturday to formally announce a run for the White House.
"Today my family and I are taking the first steps on the yellow brick road to the White House," said Brownback, referring to the sections of "The Wizard of Oz" -- the popular story with a Kansas theme.
Brownback -- the first Republican to declare his pursuit of the GOP presidential nomination in 2008 -- is strongly aligned with many positions of the religious right, including the stand that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
Earlier Saturday, Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York announced on her Web site that she is seeking the nation's top political position. (Full story)
Brownback joins a field of Republican candidates that's expected to include Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
I've mentioned in a previous post that Brownback was to formally announce his candidacy today. It is certainly interesting to note that Brownback's announcement has been overshadowed by Hillary Clinton's announcement to run for the Democratic nomination. Still, it is going to be fun to see how Brownback, who is an avowed hard-lined religious conservative, will match up with Arizona Senator John McCain, who has been furiously courting the Religious Right and the conservative hard-liners. I'm sure that Brownback will never get the Republican nomination. But will Brownback play spoiler to McCain's crass ambitions of taking the Republican nomination, and of becoming president? Who will he Religious Right choose--an avowed religious conservative, or an ambitious, self-serving wannabe?
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