updated Dec.31, 2013  ...see also: Magazine Cover Portrayal of President Obama—2013
Appearances on magazine covers are one indicator of presidential candidate potential, showing how much these political figures are in the news.  A cover can highlight facets of the individual's persona and illuminate his or her strengths and weaknesses.  The magazine cover index is not necessarily a good indicator, however; in 2009, Sarah Palin led all potential candidates by a wide margin in number of covers.  See: Magazine Cover Portrayal of Potential 2012 Presidential Candidates, 2009-10.  For a somewhat different look at media coverage as an indicator see: Paul Hitlin, "The 2016 presidential media primary is off to a fast start." Pew Research Center, Oct. 3, 2013.
REPUBLICANS






Multi






The Week*
11/15
2013
Christie and Cruz
GOP savior?
Illustration
Howard McWilliam
The Nation
11/04
2013
(l to r) M.Bachmann, T.Cruz, J.Boehner, M.Meadows, R.Paul in car going over cliff
-
Illustration
Victor Juhasz
Chris Christie






The Week*
11/15
2013
Christie (and Cruz)
GOP savior?
Illustration
Howard McWilliam
Time
11/18
2013
Christie
The Elephant in the Room
Photo
Dennis Van Tine
New York
08/12
2013
Christie, xcu
The Happy Hothead
Photo
Christopher Anderson/
Magnum Photos/New York Magazine
Arrive [Amtrak mag.]
07
2013
Christie [one of four covers]
Jersey Boys
Photo Illustration

Philadelphia 07 2013 Christie Jersey Guy
Photo Marco Grob/Trunk Archive
Time
01/21
2013
Christie
The Boss
Photo
Marco Grob for Time
Ted Cruz






Texas Monthly
01
2013
montage: steer, Jerry Jones, David Dewhurst, Cruz, Astros
The 2014 Bum Steer Awards with Steer-zilla!
Illustration

The Week
12/31
2013
many figures: Obama, Pope Francis...
The Faces of 2013
Illustration
Howard McWilliam
Townhall
12
2013
Cruz
Why Ted Cruz Fights
Photo
?
The American Spectator
11
2013
Cruz
Steady Ted
Illustration
John Springs
The Nation
11/25
2013
Cruz, Reagan, Goldwater, others
The Grand Old Tea Party
Illustration
Steve Brodner
Businessweek
10/23
2013
Cruz as the Mad Hatter
The Tea Party Won
Photo Illustration

The Weekly Standard
09/23
2013
Cruz
Washington Builds a Bugaboo
Photo
Newscom
CQ Weekly
07/29
2013
Cruz and McCain
Coralling The Mavericks
Photos
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
Rand Paul






Newsmax
11
2013
Paul
Rand Paul Up Close
Photo
Bill Clark/CQ-RollCall Group/
Getty Images
National Journal
10/19
2013
Paul as snake oil salesman
Medicine Man
Illustration
Steve Brodner
The New Republic
07/01
2013
Paul
The Real Rand Paul [Can't Be Trusted]
Photo
Platon
Time
05/06
2013
Paul
The 100 Most Influential
[7 different covers]
Photo
Mark Seliger
Rick Perry






The Week
08/09
2013
Perry
Taking on Texas
Illustration
Fred Harper
Marco Rubio






Parade
09/05
2013
Rubio and family
The Rubios - Modern Family
Photo
Rob Howard
National Review
05/20
2013
Schumer, Rubio, McCain
Rubio's Folley
Photo [image
altered slightly]
J. Scott Applewhite
The Week
02/22
2013
Rubio, K.Rove, Republican elephant
The GOP's makeover
Illustration
Howard McWilliam
Time
02/18
2013
Rubio
The Republican Savior
Photo
Marco Grob for Time
National Journal
02/16
2013
Rubio
The Player
Photo
Getty Images/CQ Roll Call/Douglas Graham







DEMOCRATS






Hillary Clinton






New York
09/30
2013
Clinton
Hillary, in Between
Photo
Douglas Friedman/Trunk Archive
The New Republic
09/22
2013
Doug Band, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, many others
Scandal at Clinton Inc.
Photos

National Review
06/03
2013
Clinton fiddling
As Benghazi Burned
Illustration
Roman Genn
The Week
05/24
2013
Clinton hanging from tree limb
Hunting Hillary
Illustration
Fred Harper
Joe Biden






Time
01/28
2013
M.Bloomberg, Biden, G.Giffords
The Gunfighters
Photos
Nigel Parry-CPI for Time
Andrew Cuomo






New York
04/22
2013
Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo may be the shrewdest American politician since LBJ
Photo Illustration
Darrow
The Nation
04/08
2013
Cuomo
Cuomo vs. Cuomo
Illustration
Steve Brodner
Martin O'Malley






Capitol File
summer
2013
O'Malley
Martin O'Malley
Photo
Jeff Gale
National Journal
06/22
2013
O'Malley
Is It Time to Take Martin O'Malley Seriously?
Photo
Chet Susslin
Washington Monthly
05
2013
O'Malley
Should This Man Be President?
Photo
Getty Images
Bernie Sanders






The Progressive
11
2013
Sanders
Bernie Sanders Takes on the Oligarchs
Illustration
Zina Saunders
Elizabeth Warren






The New Republic
11/25
2013
Warren
Hillary's Nightmare
Illustration
Jacqueline Mellow

Notes
-The New Republic's "The Real Rand Paul [Can't Be Trusted]" cover (07/01/13) by noted photographer Platon is interesting in that it shows Sen. Paul with the fingers on his left hand crossed.  Blogging at
PolicyMic (June 18) Robby Barthelmess wrote that the combination of the image and "[Can't Be Trusted]" caption has a "deceitful" effect. (> Indeed I even thought that the editors might have photoshopped the gesture as it seems odd.

- Time's "The Elephant in the Room" caption on its cover of Gov. Christie
(11/18/13) generated a fair bit of comment, with some seeing it in poor taste.  For example Salon did a short piece headlined "Time magazine makes a fat joke for its cover on Chris Christie."

-
Howard McWilliam's illustration for the cover of The Week "Republican savior?" (11/15/13) shows Gov. Christie and Sen. Cruz.  However, the cover is all about Christie; Cruz is small and pushed over to the side, and in fact it's difficult to tell from the illustration that it's actually him.  (Also, a more accurate image might show Christie and Sen. Rand Paul as those two have engaged in verbal sparring).  Covers like this where one figure is dominant and the other near invisible occur every so often: I've included it in two categories above.   

- The
picture in 2013.


Another possible media-based indicator is in-depth feature articles, some of which are listed here; suggestions (action08@ gmail) welcome.


Republicans
CHRISTIE

Benjamin Wallace-Wells.  "What Is Chris Christie Doing Right?"  New York.  Aug. 12, 2013.
Michael Smerconish.  "Could Chris Christie Become President?" 
Philadelphia.  July 2013.
Michael Crowley.  "The Boss."   Time.  Jan. 21, 2013 (cover date).

CRUZ
Jason Zengerle.  "Ted Cruz: The Distinguished Wacko Bird from Texas."  GQ.  October 2013.
Andrew Ferguson.  "Washington Builds a Bugaboo."  The Weekly Standard.  Sept. 23, 2013

PAUL
Jill Lawrence.  "Medicine Man."  National Journal.  Oct. 17, 2013.
Frank Rich.  "It's Hard to Hate Rand Paul."  New York.  Sept. 22, 2013.
Stuart A. Reid.  "The Education of Rand Paul."  Washington Monthly. July/August 2013.
Julia Ioffe.  "President Rand Paul." 
The New Republic.  June 17, 2013.

RUBIO
Michael Grunwald.  "Immigrant Son."  Time.  Feb. 18, 2013.  also: "The Rest of the Story" >
Beth Reinhard.  "Can Marco Rubio Live Up to the Hype."  National Journal.  Feb. 14, 2013.


Democrats
BIDEN

Jeanne Marie Laskas.  "Have You Heard the One About President Joe Biden?"  GQ.  July 2013.
Douglas Brinkley.  "Joe Biden: The Rolling Stone Interview."  Rolling Stone.  May 9, 2013.

CLINTON
Joe Hagan.  "Hillary in Midair."  New York.  Sept. 22, 2013.

CUOMO
Chris Smith.  "The Albany Machiavelli."  New York.  April 14, 2013.

O'MALLEY
John Briley.  "O'Malley on the Move."  Capitol File.  Summer 2013.
Haley Sweetland Edwards.  "Shoud Martin O'Malley Be President?" 
Washington Monthly.  May/June 2013.


SCHWEITZER
Michael Warren.  "Schweitzer Takes Aim."  The Weekly Standard.  Dec. 23, 2013.

WARREN
Noam Scheiber.  "Hillary's Nightmare?  A Democratic Party That Realizes Its Soul Lies With Elizabeth Warren.  The New Republic.   Nov. 10, 2013.