Donald Trump thinks he can win the race for president.  So does Ted Cruz.  Maybe Marco Rubio thinks that, too.  And maybe even Ben Carson, though he doesn't have much grounds to anymore.

But what about all the other candidates, who are way, way down in the polls?  At least Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal could see they weren't going anywhere and pulled out.  But what about the others?  It's no longer early in the political season, where anyone at 3% has a chance.  If you're at 3% nationally in the polls now, there is no chance you are going to be president.  So what are they thinking?

George Pataki: 

Pataki knows about struggle. He travels with only a few aides and has met with mostly small groups of voters. "Everybody goes, 'How long, Pataki, can you stay in this?' We've been running on a bare-bones campaign from the beginning," he said last week.

Pataki is a former three-term governor of New York who has been out of office for ten years.  He has spent most of his time practicing law and working at an environmental consulting firm to cash in on imaginary global warming.  He is currently at zero percent in the polls.  Maybe he's thinking to raise his profile so he can get a job in the next administration?  The only problem is that he hasn't.  He hasn't even made it to the main debates.  By wandering around alone in New Hampshire like a homeless man, he basically degrades himself.

Jim Gilmore: Gilmore was the governor of Virginia 13 years ago.  I can't figure out from his Wikipedia page what, if anything, of substance he has been doing since then.  At zero percent in the polls, no one knows what he looks like because he doesn't even qualify for the children's debate.  He was the last candidate to get in the race and has had zero impact.  Like Pataki, if he's looking for a job in the next administration, he should realize that no one even knows that he's out there.

Gilmore said many people don't even know he's running. "I'm not some weirdo that's out here just kinda running crazy, I'm the former governor of the state of Virginia," he continued.

Rick Santorum: Rick Santorum is a good man but a terrible politician.  Remember that before he ran for president, his last political act was losing re-election to the Senate in his home state of Pennsylvania.  Then he won Iowa by a whisker in 2012, but he still got steamrolled by Mitt Romney.

In the 2012 Iowa caucuses, the conservative former Pennsylvania senator got a late lift and outpolled Mitt Romney by 34 votes.

"I go back to four years ago. Six to seven weeks out, I was sitting at 3 or 4 percent in Iowa in a field that was half the size of this field, and we were able to come back and catch a late surge," Santorum told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Santorum is now polling at an average of less than 1 percent, close to where Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, was polling when he dropped out of the race Monday.

Santorum believes this.  He believes that there is going to be this tremendous shift of support to him  that comes out of nowhere.  He is living a life of desperate delusion.

Mike Huckabee: Mike Huckabee won Iowa eight years ago.  He is also past his political expiration date.  Now he is saying he will pull out if he doesn't poll in the top 3 in Iowa.  Right now he's in a tie with Chris Christie for 8th place.  I think his past victory has ruined him, and he can't adjust to reality.

John Kasich: I believe Kasich saw himself as the shining knight of the Chamber of Commerce when Jeb Bush started to falter.  He's currently at 2% in national polls.  He honestly believes that a third- or fourth-place showing in New Hampshire will propel him into the big leagues. 

Chris Christie: Same as John Kasich.  These guys really think a solid a third- or fourth-place finish in New Hampshire will launch their moribund candidacies.  Christie, Kasich, and Jeb think they will politically cannibalize the other two and emerge fatter and stronger.  They are seriously out of touch.

Carly Fiorina: I think Carly got into this looking for a good cabinet-level job.  But she's so out of touch that she does not realize that the others see that she doesn't play well with others.

Rand Paul: Rand Paul is burdened by the legacy of his father.  Imagine if Darth Vader were your father.  You'd want to try to rule the galaxy, too.  But he isn't even doing as well as his crackpot dad did when he ran for president.  It's that daddy complex that's prevented him from dropping out so far.

Jeb Bush: And speaking of daddy complexes...Jeb is in the worst position.  If he pulls out, he's a quitter.  But if he stays in, he's a failure.  I think, given all the millions that have been invested in him, he feels he needs to see it out through New Hampshire, reasoning that in the Bush family it is far, far better to be viewed as a failure than a quitter.

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.