17 Candidates? I thought there were more like 4

Seriously! There are 17 confirmed candidates for president from the Republicans and Democrats, right now, that have officially announced they are running. How is that possible? I never heard this number. I am sure there are more, outside of these 2 parties, but how is it the media has everyone so wrapped up in, really, just the 2 Democrats of Obama, and Clinton. The media is going into a frenzy about just these 2 candidates and they pay little or no time at discussing these other candidates. One could say, well no one cares about these other guys. I would be willing to say, no one KNOWS about these other guys. Yes they are all white, and yes they are all men. Oh yeah, and you probably never heard of most of them. You know this isn't the end of the list. It's only the beginning.

Democrats:
Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Chris Dodd
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson
Tom Vilsack

Republicans:
Sam Brownback
Jim Gilmore
Rudy Giuliani
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
John McCain
Mitt Romney
Tommy Thompson