Day: July 29, 2015

Presidents Versus Porn Stars — Some Endorsements are More Welcome than Others

Buck Banks

Mitt Romney (left) and Meatloaf
Mitt Romney (left) and Meatloaf
It might seem a bit early in the 2016 campaign for endorsements to make a difference, but apparently, since 1980 at least, endorsements from party elites and big donors have been the single best predictor of who a party’s eventual nominee will be, according to the New York Times.

The pace of endorsements is a bit off of what it has been in the past few elections, probably because of the number of candidates, at least on the GOP side. The Times notes that only 14 percent — or 45 of 335 — current Republican governors, senators or representatives have publicly backed a candidate. Of those who have, however, more have endorsed Jeb Bush than any other candidate.

Not so on the Democrat side, with Hillary Clinton bagging a former president (her husband), Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Howard Dean, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, former governor of Vermont and candidate for Democratic nomination for president in 2004.

In addition, Clinton has been endorsed by 11 sitting and former Democratic governors, 33 current or former U.S. senators and nearly 90 U.S. representatives as well as a ton of state politicians, government operatives, musicians and actors, celebrities and businesspeople.

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Three Out of Five Floridians Flunk Written Driver License Test

Buck Banks

3 out of 5

Floridians are flunking the state’s new written driver license test. “State officials expected some applicants would have trouble adjusting to a new written test implemented in January but acknowledge it erupted into an unexpected problem when they discovered more than 80 percent of drivers in some counties were unable to pass,” reports the Tampa Bay Times.

Mark Cuban: Trump Is the Best Thing to Happen to Politics

Buck Banks

I don’t care what his actual positions are. I don’t care if he says the wrong thing. He says what’s on his mind. He gives honest answers rather than prepared answers. This is more important than anything any candidate has done in years.

— Billionaire Mark Cuban, telling Business Insider that Donald Trump is “probably the best thing to happen to politics in a long, long time.”

Profiling Trump’s Lieutenants

Buck Banks

Trump’s key lieutenants tend to fit the same consumer profile that his discount luxury brand targets: They are men with middle- and working-class roots; lacking in elite credentials; mesmerized by made-for-TV displays of lavish wealth. They are impressed with brashness and bored by subtlety. They are amused by dirty jokes and averse to irony. They are likely to buy a Trump-branded necktie sometime this year, and if they feel like splurging they’ll get the matching cufflinks, too.

— McKay Coppins writes on Buzzfeed.