With nine declared Republican presidential hopefuls and seven more expected to run, consensus has been brushed aside for 2016, as GOP rivals battle to shape the future of the party, and America, in the post-Obama era.
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton may have the aura of inevitability about her, but it is another world for the GOP, where social conservatives and fiscal hawks are galloping alongside moderates as they race to see which philosophy prevails.
At no time in the last half century has such a diverse crop of politicians sought a presidential nomination in the US.
Republican tradition has largely had it that party leaders engage in the so-called “imaginary primary”, in which the establishment anoints a consensus candidate before the primary contests kick off at the start of an election year.
Democrats engage in such formulas too, and Clinton, a former first lady, senator and secretary of state under President Barack Obama, has clearly emerged as her party’s likely flag-bearer.
But there seems to be no consensus candidate for Republicans in 2016.
Instead there are governors like Scott Walker of Wisconsin and first-term senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, two Cuban-Americans with rockstar-like followings.
Then there is former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina and neurosurgeon and political neophyte Ben Carson.
And don’t forget ex-governor and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee, New York’s pro-environment 9/11 governor George Pataki, and another Bush for good measure.
Even Donald Trump, the property tycoon and media figure who perpetually threatens to run, is in the mix.
The latest to join the race is South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham who launched his presidential bid yesterday, insisting he is more qualified than any other candidate on national security issues -including Democrat Hillary Clinton.
There has been no Republican commander-in-chief other than Bushes since the 1980s, and candidates are all-too-aware of the historic difficulty in a party holding the White House for three straight terms.  
A  poll released last week showed five candidates - Walker, Rubio, Huckabee, Carson and former Florida governor Jeb Bush - bunched at the top, each with 10% support.
A lot, however,  rests on who can raise the necessary money. With finance laws easing dramatically in 2010, sewing up a steady funding stream is undeniably crucial.
The Republican field may well whittle down in August with the start of televised debates, where organisers are under pressure to find ways to accommodate large numbers of candidates on the same stage.
Observers expect some to “fail embarrassingly” by the time Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina hold their early primary contests.
But it remains too early to write off any of the candidates despite clear differences in experience, popularity and viability.