Huckabee gives it until September

[Mr. Morden]

Sounds like Huckabee won't be running. You can't make a dramatic late entrance if no one knows who you are.

Huh?  He won't be making a late entrance, as he's effectively already in the race (an exploratory committee is basically a declaration of candidacy).  He's just saying that if he doesn't gain ground by the fall, he'll likely drop out.

[Mr. Morden]

I expect we'll see the same thing with other candidates, such as Thompson, Gilmore and possibly Hunter.

Yeah, except that in recent years, most of these longshot candidates have actually been sticking it out until at least after the Iowa caucuses....well past the point at which it becomes obvious that they're not going to win.  2000 was a bit of an exception, as many of the longshots got out by the fall of '99, but in both '96 and '04, most of the longshots stayed in really late.  At one point, there were 10 Democrats running for the '04 nomination, and only two of them (Bob Graham and Carol Moseley-Braun) dropped out before the Iowa caucus.

[Mr. Morden]

Didn't Guiliani create an exploratory committee for the 2000 Senate race?

I don't remember.  I just remember that he never actually declared.

In any case, the whole business of when someone is a candidate and when they are not is rather fishy.  Once you form an exploratory committee, the media tends to treat you as if you're a candidate, and, usually, you're also behaving as if you're a candidate (giving stump speeches, appearing in debates, etc.), even if you haven't officially declared your candidacy.  On the other hand, you have folks like Wesley Clark, who hasn't even announced an exploratory committee, but is still planning on participating in things like candidate forums(!).  It doesn't make much sense.