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Meet The 17th Republican Presidential Candidate

by Jenny Hollander

I know, I know — another one. On Wednesday, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore became the 17th Republican candidate for president in 2016, quietly filing the necessary paperwork with the FEC. Earlier this month, Gilmore had equally quietly told the Associated Press and a couple of other outlets that he was planning to run for president, but that largely flew under the radar, probably because Donald Trump was overtaking the Republican field with flat-out insane poll numbers and even more insane racially-charged comments.

At this point, Gilmore's subtle approach to his run for president is a welcome change from the overly-emphatic, not-at-all-unexpected announcements from big-name contenders like Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, and Ted Cruz. Gilmore didn't even tweet about his announcement, merely filing the paperwork and waiting for major news wire services to notice. Instead, midway through Wednesday, he tweeted: "Tom Brady was suspended 4 games for hiding evidence. Hillary should have to sit out first 4 primaries." Gilmore is not particularly active on Twitter, with 181 followers at the time of this writing.

Gilmore served one term as governor of Virginia, and also ran for president in 2008. He ended his campaign within months, citing lack of funds as a reason to abruptly terminate the campaign.