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WASHINGTON (AP) - In the year that will pass before the 2016 campaign for president formally kicks off with the votes in the Iowa Caucus, any number of candidates, donors, political operatives - and people who have nothing to do with American politics - will shape the race for the White House. Here's a look at 10 people (OK, 12 people) who will be worth watching in the next year.

1. Elizabeth Warren, Potential Rival

The populist senator from Massachusetts is, at the dawn of 2015, the only person who appears able to mount a competitive challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination. The architect of President Barack Obama's consumer financial protection agency, Warren would be able to quickly raise millions from an already enthusiastic following. She has repeatedly insisted she "is not running for president," but her consistent use of the present tense has left some liberals begging her to get into the race.

2. Steve Robertson, Backroom Ally

The bespectacled chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky will have a busy 2015 - thanks in no small measure to the political aspirations of the state's junior senator, Rand Paul. As Robertson works to elect a Republican governor for only the second time in 44 years, he will have to figure out whether to help Paul run for president and re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2016 - something nominally barred by Kentucky law. Options include moving up the state's primary or changing the party's rules, but no matter what path Paul's team takes, Robertson will be the man selling it to the public.

3. Paul Fishman, Prosecutor

As U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Paul Fishman is leading the federal criminal investigation into a scheme to create traffic jams on a bridge that links New Jersey with Manhattan - a political scandal that still hangs over the political ambitions of Gov. Chris Christie. There is no evidence linking Christie directly to the effort to tie up traffic on the bridge, but even if he is formally cleared by Fishman, the federal prosecutor could announce a string of indictments against the governor's former staffers, aides and appointees just as he's announcing his candidacy for president.

4. John Podesta, Steady Influence

A senior adviser to President Barack Obama, Podesta is a trusted Democratic counselor and environmental policymaker who served as Bill Clinton's White House chief of staff. Podesta has said he doesn't intend to leave the White House until Obama's mid-January State of the Union address and could serve as Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman. If he joins the campaign, Podesta would provide stability to an organization that was plagued by infighting in 2007 and 2008 and could help Clinton navigate the party's liberal wing and the final term of Obama's administration.

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10 people to watch in 2015 who may shift the 2016 campaign

Published January 01, 2015

A federal judge has ruled that the Libertarian Party can proceed with its challenge to a New Hampshire law it claims could prevent its candidates from getting on the ballot.

A third party can have its nominees placed on the New Hampshire general election ballot by winning at least 4 percent of the vote for either governor or U.S. senator in the most recent election or by collecting signatures equal to 3 percent of the total votes cast during the prior election. Under a law that took effect in July, parties can't begin gathering those signatures until Jan. 1 of the election year.

The state argues that the change ensures that signatures on nomination papers are valid, but the Libertarian Party sued, arguing that it would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the party to petition its way onto the ballot.

The state asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, but U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro refused. In a ruling this week, he noted that the right to vote must be balanced against the state's interest in conducting orderly elections, but said whether or not the new restrictions are reasonable depends on factors that have yet to be explored.

"The state offers a number of arguments in favor of dismissal, but none are persuasive," he wrote.

In 2012, the Libertarian Party ran candidates for president, vice president, Congress and several state-level seats after collecting the necessary signatures, but it began the collection process in 2011. For the 2016 election, it would need to collect 14,864 signatures.

"This signature-collection process is like a marathon that's hard enough just to finish, and now the state is essentially demanding that the Libertarian Party run the marathon in less than two hours. This is unfair and unconstitutional," said attorney William Christie, co-counsel on the case along with the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union.

Attorneys for the party argue that the time limit also effectively prevents the party from meaningfully participating in the general election because it would have to use its limited resources collecting signatures instead of on campaigning and fundraising.

Assistant Attorney General Laura Lombardi, who is representing Secretary of State William Gardner, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In court filings, she argued that the new time limits are both nondiscriminatory and reasonable and would impose only a minimal burden on third parties.

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Judge allows Libertarians' court challenge in New Hampshire to proceed

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Progressives Jahresende Psy Prog Dj Mix (Sharizsaya) Psy Trance Psychedelic - Video

The All Progressives Congress has welcomed the statement of President Goodluck Jonathan in his New Year message, restating his commitment to the conduct of free, fair and violence-free elections this year.

The party, however, urged the President to match the commitment with action.

In a statement in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party expressed satisfaction that the President and his party had come out publicly to join the APC in pledging commitment to successful and violence-free polls next month.

In a statement on December 28, 2014, we assured Nigerians that we would do everything in our power to make the 2015 elections violence-free.

Since then, PDP National Chairman Adamu Muazu and the President have joined us in making similar pledges. This is a welcome development that will gladden the hearts of our citizens who are very apprehensive about the forthcoming elections, it said.

APC however said the best way to make the elections free, fair and devoid of violence was for the Federal Government to ensure a level playing field for all the parties by not tampering with the independence of INEC; not using the security agencies to oppress and intimidate the opposition and not deliberately disenfranchising qualified voters.

If an election is free, fair and transparent and seen to be so by all, it will be easy for all concerned to accept the outcome, and there will be no violence. Violence only occurs when there is a realisation that the process has been skewed against some and in favour of others, the party said.

It restated its assurance to Nigerians and the international community that it would do all in its power to make sure that the 2015 election is violence-free

We also restate our stand that even with the little time left for the election to hold, a meeting of the leadership of the two main political parties, the APC and the PDP, will send a powerful message to our compatriots and indeed the international community and douse the tension that is building up ahead of the elections, APC said.

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APC lauds Jonathans commitment to free, violence-free elections

The All Progressives Congress has raised the alarm over the plan by the Federal Government to use the security agencies, especially the DSS and the Police, to harass and intimidate the opposition with a view to decapitating it ahead of the 2015 elections.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the torrent of threats being issued recently by the Minister of Police Affairs and the DSS, over alleged inflammatory statements by opposition leaders, is nothing but a thinly-veiled attempt at cowing the opposition and destabilizing its ranks.

It said the strategy includes the invitation of key opposition figures for questioning by the DSS, starting with the APC National Publicity Secretary, to be followed by arrests and detention of such figures.

The Minister of Police Affairs said publicly that he has already directed the Inspector-General of Police as well as the DSS to arrest anyone who makes inflammatory statements ahead of the 2015 elections, and then went ahead to castigate the APC, thus exposing the real reason for his directive.

If the Minister, and indeed the security agencies were carrying out their duties as an official/agents of state rather than partisans, they would have realized that no one is more guilty of making inflammatory and even treasonable statements than the supporters of the President and members of the PDP.

Yet, not once has the Minister, and the security agencies under his control, called these people to order. There is no better indication of the mindset of these threats-issuing Minister and the security agencies under his control than their glaring double-standard and vexatious partisanship. This is not how to run the affairs of state, the party said.

It recalled that a series of inflammatory, insulting and downright treasonable comments by supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan and officials of the PDP all went without as much as a whimper from those who are now howling at the opposition for statements that are neither inflammatory nor treasonable.

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FG using security agencies to oppress opposition parties -APC