WASHINGTON — In Florida, they know John Morgan from his law firm’s colorful personal injury ads and 1-800-number billboards.
In New Orleans, Sidney Torres IV became a local celebrity after parlaying his real estate fortune and flashy lifestyle into crime-fighting and a reality TV career.
And in Nevada, Stephen J. Cloobeck, the gregarious founder of Diamond Resorts, vaulted into popular culture on the TV show “Undercover Boss.”
What do they have in common? Like the man who became president of the United States, all three are finding that wealth and fame can go only so far in fulfilling overwhelming personal ambition. Chasing the greater riches of power and prestige, each is considering a campaign for high office.
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Politics may have once struck the ultrarich as a ponderous, ladder-climbing pursuit for stiffly programmed former class presidents, but President Trump has demonstrated that it can at least be tried on one’s own terms. If nothing else, the newest occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is proof positive that money, fame and an outsider’s profile can matter more than experience, basic legislative expertise and the other traditional qualifications thought to represent barriers to entry.
“A lot of people are saying, ‘My God, if Donald Trump can get elected, anybody can get elected,’ ” said Steve Westly, a former eBay executive who ran for governor of California in 2006.
Spurred by Mr. Trump’s election — or at least encouraged by it — a contingent of rich, fairly famous and largely Democratic neophytes has begun to line up for some of the most important elections of 2017 and 2018, including for governorships in Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Nevada and New Mexico, and a mayoral race in New Orleans.
Similar messages may also be heard in the coming months in New Jersey, where the comedian and former “Saturday Night Live” star Joe Piscopo is weighing a run for governor this year, and in Maine, where Adam Lee, who runs the largest car dealership in the state and is a familiar face thanks to television advertising, is mulling a 2018 bid for governor.
Mr. Trump did not invent the practice of running for office as a rich, or celebrated, amateur. Both parties have fielded such aspirants over the years. Republicans had notable success with figures like Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But Mr. Trump, many strategists believe, has opened a wider path for wealthy candidates who resemble localized versions of, well, Mr. Trump: unapologetic self-promoters who relish publicity and have no inhibitions about flaunting their wealth.
And adapting the “any press is good press” Trump axiom, some of them talk freely about their aspirations, answering personal emails or speaking at length on their cellphones while eschewing the protective shield of public relations consultants that surrounds conventional politicians and is often quickly erected around first-time candidates.
“I gave away $6.8 million last year, and my taxes are paid current,” said Mr. Cloobeck, 55, a major Democratic Party donor, taking a swipe at Mr. Trump’s reportedly parsimonious philanthropy and his mysterious tax returns. “That’s two things that are different between Trump and myself.”
Source: nytimes.com
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