This super PAC will go after third-party candidates so Biden doesn’t have to
Plus: What New York City travel posters used to look like
Hello, in this issue we’ll look at…
This super PAC will go after third-party candidates so Biden doesn’t have to
Trump’s having trouble raising money. Does it matter?
What New York City travel posters used to look like
Scroll to the end to see: what Jeremy Corbyn said about the new Banksy.
This super PAC will go after third-party candidates so Biden doesn’t have to
In case you didn’t know, President Joe Biden is Irish.
Just kidding, Biden talks about being Irish about as often as Lady Gaga talks about being Italian, and on St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday, he posed for a photo with politics’ most famous Irish-American family, the Kennedys.
The family photo was missing a few members, though, including the cute one who went to a Shawn Mendes concert with Antoni that one time and their uncle currently running for president, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. RFK Jr.’s sister Kerry posted the photo on X and wrote, “President Biden, you make the world better.” Awkward!
RFK Jr.’s absence isn’t limited to Biden White House photo ops. Since Kennedy announced his campaign last April, Biden hasn’t mentioned him publicly, according to a review of his public statements on Factbase, a database of presidential rhetoric. And why would he, when going after third-party candidates could stand to elevate them?
Therein lies the challenge for major party candidates handling minor challengers who could still cause major headaches. How do you fend them off without punching down or taking your eyes off your main opponent? For Biden, the strategy so far has been to ignore as outside groups do the dirty work.
Pete Kavanaugh, a former deputy campaign manager for Biden’s 2020 campaign, has a new job this year as the founder of Clear Choice, a super PAC that will coordinate efforts among other outside groups and research and test ads aimed at turning voters against third-party and independent candidates, according to the Washington Post.
“It’s imperative that this election is a clear choice between President Biden and Donald Trump,” Kavanaugh said in a statement to the Post. “No third-party or independent candidate has any chance of winning a state in November, never mind reaching 270 electoral votes. They are spoilers, plain and simple. We’re here to work with allies to ensure those candidates are held accountable, and everything is on the table.”
There’s a lot for Clear Choice to potentially coordinate. Among the outside groups that have already begun advertising in opposition to third-party candidates are the Lincoln Democracy Institute, MoveOn, and Save Our Republic, a group of Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans that began airing an ad in December that says 2024 is an “up-or-down vote on democracy” and calls all third-party candidates “spoilers.”
In addition, the Democratic National Committee has started its first-ever team dedicated to pushing back against third-party candidates.
Trump’s having trouble raising money. Does it matter?
“You’re only the 1965 Rolling Stones once, and the second time you’re a midlevel touring band that charges too much for your f**king tickets,” director Steven Spielberg told former President Barack Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina during Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, according to Michael Hastings’ “Panic 2012.”
Or as Messina put it, a re-elect campaign will never “be as sexy” as it was the first time.
But what about a third time? Former President Donald Trump’s lackluster fundraising start this year suggests he may be charging too much for his effing tickets.
Sources tell CNBC that Republican Party advisors have warned Trump’s team that his small-dollar donor base — which accounted for nearly half the money he raised during his 2020 campaign — has shrunk, and in fact his campaign raised 62.5% less in 2023 than it raised in 2019. Add to that a reluctance among some big-dollar donors to give to a pro-Trump PAC or the Republican National Committee over concerns their money will go to legal bills, and it’s clear Trump is hurting for cash.
Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign says it raised $53 million in February and has $155 million on hand along with the Democratic National Committee and its joint-fundraising committees. That’s more than any Democratic presidential candidate in history at this point in a campaign cycle. For comparison, Trump and the Republican National Committee had about $40 million at the end of January.
But cash advantages don’t always necessarily translate to electoral advantages. Just ask Trump. In 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign spent about 70% more than Trump’s while outside groups spent about twice as much supporting her than him.
Trump does seem to be making moves to ramp up his fundraising and cut costs, though. According to the New York Times, he formed a new joint fundraising committee called the Trump 47 Committee with about 40 state parties and he’s stepping his program for midsize donor bundlers even as his campaign is planning to hold fewer pricey rallies.
When it comes to small-dollar donors, Trump is leaning on tried-and-true methods. In his campaign’s most recent fundraising email, he’s going after one of his favorite foils: the news media.
“The FAKE NEWS used edited clips to viciously misquote me,” he wrote, referencing coverage of his “bloodbath” comment made during a segment about the auto industry during a speech in Ohio. “Before the day is over, I’m asking ONE MILLION PRO-TRUMP PATRIOTS to chip in and say, I STAND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP!”
Whether a million pro-Trump patriots still find these appeals convincing remains to be seen, but if they do, it could be worth millions.
These posters tell the story of New York City as a travel destination
More travel posters have been designed for New York City than any other city in the world—and a new exhibition, Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters at Poster House in New York explores some of the best.
“This exhibition charts the course as New York grew into an international city,” said Nicholas Lowry, president of Swann Auction Galleries where he helms the vintage poster department, who curated the show. The posters range from the earliest depictions of New York as just another place to visit in New York State to scenes from the 20th century as the skyline we all know today begins to take shape.
Many of the posters were made for airlines and other transportation providers, such as an early 1890 poster from the Delaware and Hudson Railway. Others had less commercial motivation, like the 1918 poster of a New York City skyline with the text, “Help Protect Liberty’s Gateway,” commissioned to promote war saving stamps. Others, still, were converted from existing artwork, like the poster of a July 1931 Vanity Fair cover by New York illustrator Hugh Gray Lieber, that shows white skyscrapers, trimmed in red, against a starry blue sky.
Brooklyn artist David Klein, famous for the dozens of posters he designed for TWA in the 1950s and ’60s, has some of the most recognizable pieces in the exhibition — including one of Lowry’s favorites. “It’s an abstract, futuristic view of the ‘Crossroads of the World,’” he told me, referring to Times Square, captured by Klein in an aerial view of bright colors depicting billboards, marquees, neon signs, and traffic.
Unsurprisingly, the Statue of Liberty is pretty ubiquitous among the posters, but other famous NYC landmarks — Rockefeller Center’s Prometheus statue, the United Nations building, and the beloved Twin Towers — also make appearances. As a whole, the posters show not just how graphic design evolved throughout the 20th century, but New York City too.
“The exciting factor about New York is the constant reinvention,” Lowry said. “Other major global cities have more tradition, but New York is the capital of dynamism.”
“These posters highlight the constant change that is inherent in the city itself, and the variety of images compound that,” he adds.
Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters is on view at Poster House through September 8, 2024.
Have you seen this?
Hal Malchow is going to die on Thursday. He has one last message for Democrats. On Thursday, March 21, one of the Democratic Party’s most accomplished campaign consultants will die. [Politico]
The government doesn’t want you to see the unused Space Force logos. It took the Air Force four years to release redacted records of its quest to create spiffy new uniforms for the newest branch of the military. [Reason]
Here’s Banksy’s new mural in London. The England-based street artist painted the wall behind a pollarded tree green to give it new life. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was “delighted” the mural was up in his constituency. “Banksy's come to Finsbury Park with a bit of greenery in a place that needs a bit more greenery. We're the most densely populated constituency in the country and I'm just delighted,” Corbyn said. [BBC]
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is now getting sued over her video promoting a Texas dentist. Travelers United, a Washington, D.C.-based traveler advocacy nonprofit, filed a case of first impression against Noem this week seeking to force her to make “corrective disclosures” on her social media posts after uploading a video about the work she got done at Smile Texas. [Yello]
History of political design
Hillary Clinton “I’m with her, she’s with me” campaign button (2016). Clinton became the first female nominee of a major party in 2016 and her campaign said its Braille “Stronger Together” button (click through for the second slide) was the first of its kind.
A portion of this newsletter was first published in Fast Company.
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