Presidential Candidates everywhere

"Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.", Joseph Heller, Author of Catch 22 Are you asking why there are so many people running for President? Most of them know they have a slim chance of winning the presidency or any other political position for that matter. Who are these guys/gals pictured here from a New York Times web page of May 30, 2014 ? Presently there are 13 Republicans running and 5 Democrats. In 2000 there were 9 Presidential hopefuls on the Democratic side and 11 on the Republican side . I am surprised that the number of candidates running for President over that time period is not much different. Per OpenSecrets.org the amount spent is not much different either as shown by the chart below.