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There were three different stories related to the 2024 presidential race yesterday. None of them is big enough to appear at the top of the page, we think, or even to be worthy of its own item. But, they are all at least worth noting.
We'll start with the second Republican candidates' debate. The RNC already announced that the first one would take place in August of this year, in Milwaukee. Yesterday, Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel announced the location, albeit not the date, of the second one.
For now, we will tell you that the RNC has decided on California. That is a very interesting choice, given that the state is generally ill-suited to the RNC's needs. California is not very much in tune with the Trumpy version of the GOP; that even includes most of the red parts of the state. Further, to the extent that there are parts of the state that are red and Trumpy, they are far from some pretty essential things, like airports, and media outlets, and, you know, running water. Also, for a presidential candidates' debate, a site of appropriate dignity and formality is needed. Normally that means "college campus," but in this case, that's not going to fly. Even if the GOP tries for one of the religious schools, like Pepperdine or Azusa Pacific, the student protesters are going to be out in droves. And if they were to try for UC Berkeley or UCLA, well, you might as well just call out the National Guard right now.
In view of these considerations, there's only one plausible location the RNC could have chosen, and certainly (Z) managed to guess it the moment he saw the headline "GOP to host second presidential debate in California." Care to take your best shot? We'll tell you where the debate will be at the end of this item.
Moving on to presidential news item #2, Joe Biden is reportedly going to make his 2024 campaign official next week. Since this is technically just a tease, and since we all know he's running anyhow, it's hard to treat this as BIG news. And, of course, Team Biden has teased announcements before and then backed off. That said, the anniversary of his 2019 announcement (April 25) arrives next week, and Biden insiders say it is "no longer helpful or necessary to not just say the obvious: He's running." So, the moment probably will indeed arrive next week.
And then there's presidential news item #3. It's probably lucky for the candidate that the news broke the same day as two other semi-significant items, because this one was least likely to get its own write-up. Anyhow, coming off a disastrously unsuccessful campaign for governor of California, radio entertainer Larry Elder has decided he will now pursue an even bigger, whiter mansion to live in. He promises to initiate a "new American Golden Age," whatever that means. We suspect he has conveniently forgotten how Black people like him were treated during the last "Golden Age," whenever that was.
We really haven't the faintest idea what Elder's goals are here. Obviously, he isn't going to win the Republican nomination or the presidency, and he'll be lucky to even show up in polls. He already gets on right-wing cable programs without needing the cachet of "Republican presidential candidate." And his far-right ideas now have wide currency in Republican politics. Who knows what's going on here, but we do not foresee writing about him very much. Like, the 195 words here might well be the majority of our Elder-related output for the year.
To wrap it up, and to return to the first segment of this item, the second Republican presidential debate will be held at... the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. It's in Simi Valley, which is the retired cop capital of America, and so about as friendly a surrounding community as the GOP is going to find in the Golden State. It's reasonably close to two airports (Burbank and LAX). It's not especially close to any colleges. It's set up in a way that access can be choked off fairly easily (there's basically one road leading in, and that's it). It's hosted Republican debates before. And it allows the Republicans to remind everyone that they are the party of St. Ronnie, even if they have relatively little in common with him these days when it comes to policy. Presumably, making this connection is why McDaniel & Co. chose California in the first place.
If you guessed the Nixon Library, that's a good thought, but: (1) the GOP doesn't particularly want to remind anyone they are the party of Tricky Dick, (2) the Nixon Library is in Orange County, which is nowhere near as white or as conservative as it once was, and (3) there are probably 10 universities within 15 miles of the Nixon library, most of them either public or small liberal arts schools. It would be protester central if and when Trump, Ron DeSantis and a host of other anti-abortion/anti-trans/anti-education folks showed up. And the Nixon is not nearly as easily to shut off from the general public. So, Ronnieland it is. (Z)