Adelson to host Jeb Bush at Jewish Republican event
Several 2016 presidential hopefuls gathering in Vegas to meet casino magnate in what Washington Post calls ‘Sheldon Primary’
WASHINGTON — Sheldon Adelson will host a dinner featuring former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on the eve of a conference of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Adelson, the casino magnate seen as a kingmaker in the Republican Party because of his willingness to spend tens of millions of dollars in an election, will host the dinner Thursday night in Las Vegas, where he is headquartered.
Bush, the brother of President George W. Bush and the son of President George H. W. Bush, is said to be considering a presidential run in 2016.
Other likely contenders appearing at the RJC Spring Leadership Meeting include governors Chris Christie of New Jersey, Scott Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio.
The RJC event in 2010 was among the first stops for Mitt Romney after he launched his successful bid for the GOP 2012 nomination.
Adelson, having spent over $92 million helping mostly losing candidates in the 2012 elections, plans to back “a more mainstream Republican with a clear shot to win the White House” in 2016, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Last time, he and wife Miriam Adelson “spent so much of their money on long-shot candidate Newt Gingrich that they helped extend an ugly intraparty fight that left the eventual nominee, Mitt Romney, severely bruised by the time he faced President Obama in the general election,” the Post said.
The new strategy, the paper said, “would favor more established 2016 hopefuls” such as Bush, Christie, Walker and Kasich.
“All four will descend this week on Adelson’s luxury hotel in Las Vegas, the Venetian, for an important step in what some are calling the ‘Sheldon Primary.'” Adelson plans to hold “casual one-on-one chats” with potential candidates.
