NOVANEWS
Sheldon Adelson
Yes, Sheldon Adelson crapped out on Election Day. But Adelson has plenty of more chips to place on the table–billions more.
True, the casino billionaire spent at least $53 million on this election cycle with little to show for the investment. And while it’s a massive amount of money for most people, and most companies, it’s pocket change for Adelson. The Las Vegas Sands boss is worth $20.5 billion. My colleague Clare O’Connor drew this great comparison yesterday: “Imagine an average person with a $100,000 net worth buying a pair of Tory Burch shoes ($250). You’d care if you lost them, but you wouldn’t be ruined.” Adelson’s $53 million is gone. The billionaire isn’t going anywhere.
While only one of the Adelson-backed candidates, incumbent senator Dean Heller (R, NV), won on November 6th, Adelson’s $53 million donation was a bargain. It bought Adelson a direct line into every politician–and media outlet–in America, no matter their party affiliation. When Adelson calls, you’re going to pick up the phone. And pick it up fast. Just ask Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney and even Harry Reid. That $53 million worth of donations, just 0.25% of his wealth, has made Sheldon Adelson a player.
And what’s his game? Many a pundit paint Adelson as a rich guy who backs politicians that can make him richer. It’s more complex than that. After all Adelson, who told me in the past that he fears thatBarack Obama is trying to make the U.S. a socialist country, has made more money ($17.1 billion) than any American one since Obama took office.If it was about cash, than Obama would be his guy.
So what moves him? First, the staunch support of Israel. Next he wants to fix what he sees as America’s waning capitalist spirit. As he told me for a Forbes cover story back in February:
“What scares me is the continuation of the socialist-style economy we’ve been experiencing for almost four years. That scares me because the redistribution of wealth is the path to more socialism, and to more of the government controlling people’s lives. What scares me is the lack of accountability that people would prefer to experience, just let the government take care of everything and I’ll go fish or I won’t work, etc. U.S. domestic politics is very important to me because I see that the things that made this country great are now being relegated into duplicating that which is making other countries less great. … I’m afraid of the trend where more and more people have the tendency to want to be given instead of wanting to give. People are less willing to share. There are fewer philanthropists being grown and there are greater expectations of the government. I believe that people will come to their senses and not extend the current Administration’s quest to socialize this country. It won’t be a socialist democracy because it won’t be a democracy.
Adelson has plenty of power and powder left. 2012 was likely just a warm up.