[continued from previous message]   
      
   Because of how rarely he’s been in the news, it’s understandable if you   
   believed billionaire former hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer was put in the   
   witness-protection program. In the 2020 cycle, he spent $191 million and   
   failed to win any delagates. (Bloomberg can boast that at least he won   
   American Samoa.) Steyer is still chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions,   
   “a climate-focused global investment firm” and involved in big-ticket   
   real-estate deals.   
      
   John Delaney, a former representative from Maryland, founded Forbright   
   Inc. and is executive chairman of Forbright Bank, formerly Congressional   
   Bank. The bank was recently criticized by the Federal Deposit Insurance   
   Corporation for “reliance on noncore funding.”   
      
   And in perhaps the most unexpected fate of anyone in the 2020 Democratic   
   presidential-primary field . . . Tulsi Gabbard is likely to be the next   
   director of national intelligence for President-elect Trump. If   
   confirmed, she will have a major hand in assembling and delivering the   
   Presidential Daily Brief.   
      
   Hopefully, all these figures are happy with their lives; there is more   
   to life than politics and which elected office you’re in. But it’s a   
   fact of life that most political careers end in disappointment, and   
   every four years, every presidential campaign ends in withdrawal or   
   defeat except one.   
      
   After Wired magazine wrote its love letter to Buttigieg, I wrote, “We   
   keep reading profiles about Democratic Party figures who are supposedly   
   the Next Big Thing, and then they turn out to be Not Much of a Thing At   
   All.” For the past two decades or so, the mentality for a lot of   
   ambitious politicians was that running for president was all upside, and   
   almost no downside — and whether you were a billionaire, a relatively   
   unknown representative, or an obscure South Bend, Ind., mayor, there was   
   no shame in running and losing, even if you never cracked 2 percent.   
   Maybe that’s not quite the case anymore.   
      
   ADDENDUM: Our Andrew Stuttaford does a head count for the COP29   
   climate-change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, and finds that the United   
   Kingdom sent 470 delegates to the summit, compared with 405 from the   
   United States, 437 from Italy, and 115 from France. “The Mail on Sunday   
   reported that the British delegation was estimated to have tallied 2.3   
   million air miles in total for return trips, with a total carbon   
   footprint of at least 338 tons of carbon dioxide.” In other words, in   
   that one trip, the typical U.K. attendee flying to COP29 generated about   
   four-fifths as many carbon emissions as the average American generates   
   in a year.   
      
   Next Jolt   
   Senate Republicans Slam the Gaetz Shut — and Save Trump   
      
   comments include   
   zragland   
   10h   
   Shout out from South Bend, IN. The nation's loss is our gain. Now if   
   only we could get Buttigieg's protege out of our mayoral seat and into   
   national politics, we might get something worthwhile done around here.   
      
   fairj123   
   10h   
   I can't see Kamala ever being nominated as democratic nominee.   
      
      
   2   
   Cryptonumismatist   
   10h   
   “If Biden isn’t ending his presidency disgraced…”   
      
      
   If? Please.   
      
      
   1   
   DependsontheRoom   
   10h   
   For the past two decades or so, the mentality for a lot of ambitious   
   politicians was that running for president was all upside, and almost no   
   downside...Maybe that’s not quite the case anymore.   
      
   Entertaining article as usual, but I don't see a great deal of   
   "downside" here. A bunch of folks staying rich or being Senator or   
   writing books (Williamson) and so on. You do allow that "there is more   
   to life than politics." But the overriding theme of a "curse" falls   
   flat, seems to me.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)