CARLY FIORINA (pictured), a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard and one of the latest Republican candidates for the presidency, has a simple pitch. She is a woman and she is not Hillary Clinton. To make this point as subtly as possible her campaign launch video, released on May 4th, begins with a scene of Ms Fiorina turning off a television showing Mrs Clinton’s launch video. On the stump she repeatedly accuses the Democratic frontrunner of being untrustworthy. She adds: “Mrs Clinton, name an accomplishment?”

Ms Fiorina is one of three new candidates who have jumped into the Republican mêlée this week. She was joined a day later by Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas who announced his intention to run from his hometown of Hope, where Bill Clinton was also born. He delivered a bombastic speech, lamenting “the slaughter of over 55m babies in the name of choice”. The elderly audience chanted “We love Huck”. The third contender is Ben Carson, a retired brain surgeon who was the first to separate twins joined at the head. Mr Carson has also dabbled as a Fox News pundit, and is the only black presidential candidate from either party. A week before, on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton gained her first formal challenger: Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont.

None of these new candidates has much chance of winning. Mr Sanders is an experienced politician but, as the only self-described socialist in Congress, he is a tough sell outside the Green Mountain State. His real aim is probably to pull Mrs Clinton to the left economically.

Ms Fiorina was once a technology titan, but she has never won an election. In 2010 she ran for one of California’s seats in the Senate. She lost by 42% to 52% against a veteran incumbent. Mr Carson has never fought an election. He has built a political career out of his life story (he was raised by a single mother in a rough part of Detroit), his soft-spoken faith and his habit of saying outrageous things—he once described America under Barack Obama as being “very much like Nazi Germany”.

Only Mr Huckabee has ever been a serious contender. In 2008 he came second in the Republican primaries, charming evangelical voters with his wisecracks, guitar-playing and Biblical allusions. Since then he has written books (his latest is called“God, Guns, Grits and Gravy”) and made a lot of money as a television pundit. He will not win, but he may force other candidates to fight harder for the votes of older, religious conservatives. His launch speech featured a defence of Social Security and Medicare, two government programmes for the old which many Republicans would like to reform (ie, restrain).

The Republican campaign unfolds against a backdrop of intense distrust of Mr Obama among conservatives. Some of this is nutty: conspiracy theorists have decided that an army exercise in Texas is the precursor to a federal takeover. The governor, Greg Abbott, who should know better, has asked the state guard to monitor it. On May 5th Ted Cruz, a Texan senator and presidential candidate, said he understood people’s concerns, though he personally did not doubt the Pentagon’s explanation that the exercise was just an exercise. Rick Perry, a former governor of Texas who may also run for president, dismissed the conspiracy theory out of hand.