Four GOP Hopefuls will Try to Impress Sheldon Adelson
Reuters reports that Sheldon Adelson is set to have a four-day meeting this week in Las Vegas with four possible nominees for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The meetings will center around the annual spring leadership meetings of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
In what’s being called “The Sheldon Primary”, GOP hopefuls will meet with some of American politics’ richest money men during a four-day event which includes private roundtable discussions, Scotch tastings, golf tournament, and poker tournaments.
Though he has numerous political causes he’s likely to discuss, Sheldon Adelson’s stated goal is to make online gambling illegal throughout the United States. Because Adelson is a big donor to Republican causes, four possible candidates are making a point to impress the CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp, the largest gaming company in the world.
The four politicians traveling to meetings in Las Vegas are Ohio Governor John Kasish, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Each thinks he has a chance for the nomination, and each will hear what Adelson has to say about online gaming.
Shaping the Debate
While the candidates would love to take Adelson’s money, his antagonistic stance to online gambling could prove to be a divisive issue among Republicans. Many of the evangelical Christians in the right wing of the party see all gambling in a moral sense, as a sign of corruption and degeneracy. The economic conservatives, on the other hand, view gaming regulation as an overreach of federal authority. These GOP members see most regulation of businesses by the federal authorities as a bad idea, so they would tend to support online gambling, or at least prefer to preserve those decisions for state governments.
The libertarian wing of the Republican Party would tend to have similar views on the federal government, but they would go one step further. Such conservatives want no government oversight of what citizens do in their own private time. They believe Americans should be allowed to make their own decisions, while taking responsibility for their own actions. In such cases, they would demand the U.S. government to stop policing what they do in the privacy of their homes.
Thus, Sheldon Adelson’s views on online gambling could cause dissension in the GOP nominating process, as the party could split on the proper policies to enact. Despite this, his advocacy could force Republicans politicians to take a more hardline stance than they otherwise would, because they could use tens of millions of dollars on the side of their campaign. One Republican, Lindsay Graham, has already worked with Adelson on a bill that would make online gambling illegal in the USA. It is thought this bill has little chance of success, and that it might not ever reach a vote.
$90 Million Contributions in 2012
GOP lawmakers will listen to what Adelson has to say this week, nonetheless. The gaming executive represents a potential source of huge cash. In 2012, Adelson spent $90 million in soft money to see Barack Obama’s reelection campaign thwarted. Adelson’s money failed to sway the vote in that campaign, but many see the 2016 presidential election as a much better chance for the GOP.
The Wall Street Journal recently claimed the field of candidates for the Republican Party is the strongest one since 1980, when Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. vied for the nomination. Several of the men meeting with Adelson are considered serious candidates.
Chris Christie – Has a Lot of Explaining to Do
Chris Christie is going to have a lot of explaining to do, given his recent actions involving online gambling. In 2013, Christie signed into law a bill which made online casinos and poker sites legal inside New Jersey. Christie hoped iGaming would save the Atlantic City casinos, which have seen their revenues decline 6 of the last 7 years.
Given his stance, Chris Christie may be the candidate with the least in common with Adelson’s policies. The New Jersey governor is further compromised by the Bridgegate scandal. Though he’s been perceived as the frontrunner for two years now, his chances may have been slim to begin with, given the current state of the GOP. Chris Christie is seen as a moderate in a party where the agenda is driven by its right wing.
Jeb Bush – 3rd Bush Presidency
Jeb Bush is considered a viable candidate, due to name recognition as a scion of an American political dynasty. Jeb’s administration in Florida was considered a success, while family insiders say George W. and Jeb’s father always assumed it would be Jeb Bush who was the president. His pedigree will be a strength and a liability, though, because the first two Bushes are perceived by a large section of America as presidential mediocrities.
John Kasich of Ohio
John Kasich has the experience needed to be the commander-in-chief. He was a representative from Ohio for 18 years (1983-2001). In 2001, he left the House of Representatives to become a broadcaster for FoxNews. He was also an investment banker for Lehmen Brothers in those years, up until that firm collapsed in the 2008 world financial crisis.
In 2010, John Kasich reentered politics to win the gubernatorial race in Ohio. Kasich repealed the Ohio estate tax and lowered the unemployment rate in the state from 9% to 7%. At the same time, he saw his collective bargaining law voted down by 61% of the Ohio electorate, which might have forced him to a more moderate position afterwards. With funds from the Affordable Care Act, he expanded Medicaid in Ohio.
Scott Walker of Wisconsin
Scott Walker went the other direction with Medicaid, cutting the government program by $500 million in Wisconsin. Like Kasich, he also ran into trouble by trying to push through a collective bargaining law. In Walker’s case, the plan proved so unpopular that the people of Wisconsin instituted a recall election. Walker won the election by 53%, which remains the only time in U.S. history a governor has won a gubernatorial recall vote.
Scott Walker has worked to build his conservative credentials. He tried to strike down a domestic partner registry, because he believes it to unconstitutional in setting up domestic partnerships on an equal level with marriage. He also refused an Obamacare subsidy, which is one reason he had to defund Medicaid in the state.
Meanwhile, Walker has sought to change provisions of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to give him full authority to approve or reject any off-reservation tribal gaming in the state–presumably to curtail casino gambling in Wisconsin. If so, Walker’s tough stance on gaming might strike a nerve with Sheldon Adelson.
