‘Sheldon Adelson primary’ cranks up next month

POLITICO

Prospective GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Mike Pence and Rick Perry are making pilgrimages to Las Vegas next month to appear before Sheldon Adelson and other major Jewish donors.

The trio – as well as Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who is girding for what’s expected to be a tough 2016 reelection fight – will speak at the spring meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition on April 25, the group announced Tuesday.

The RJC’s Vegas meetings, which are held at the Adelson-owned Venetian resort hotel and casino, have emerged as key stops on the GOP presidential donor-courting circuit. That’s thanks largely to Adelson, who is believed to be the RJC’s biggest funder, and whose family threw the 2012 GOP presidential primary into chaos by donating $20 million to support Newt Gingrich’s long-shot campaign. It then spent many times that amount trying to unseat President Barack Obama.

Adelson is being closely watched in GOP finance circles for any indications of which prospective presidential candidate he is favoring.

While he hasn’t signaled a preference yet, several other major RJC donors including Florida mall developer Mel Sembler are backing Jeb Bush.

The former Florida governor won plaudits from some of the group’s biggest donors after articulating a hawkish foreign policy during a closed-door speech at a dinner in Adelson’s Las Vegas airplane hangar on the night before last spring’s RJC meeting, which became known as “The Sheldon Primary.” The next day, the group heard public speeches from a trio of prospective 2016ers, including Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

While most of the speakers had minimal foreign policy experience, all touted aggressive stances on Israel’s defense, which is the animating issue for Adelson and most RJC donors. Christie even apologized to Adelson privately for stepping on a fault line in Middle East politics during his speech.

The politicians set to speak to the group next month – Texas Sen. Cruz, Indiana Gov. Pence, former Texas Gov. Perry and Ohio Sen. Portman – have mostly staked out hawkish foreign policies.

And by the time of the RJC meeting, the GOP presidential primary is expected to be officially underway, likely increasing both the spotlight on the event, and the potential that the speakers will seek to differentiate themselves.