Word: venturas
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Maybe the meeting at the Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino is not destined to be remembered along with Yalta and Potsdam as one of history's great summits. But back in 1988, at the World Wrestling Federation's Wrestlemania IV in Atlantic City, Donald Trump met Jesse ("the Body") Ventura. The real estate parvenu was impressed by the wrestler's sense of showmanship. The two remained casual acquaintances over the years--they became pen pals and talked about golf. Eleven years later, they find themselves soulmates: each would deny Patrick J. Buchanan the Reform Party's presidential nomination. Trump is eyeing...
...Bush. For months Bush has been worried about Buchanan's entering the race as a spoiler who would pull conservative votes from George W. the same way Perot stymied his dad. Indeed, a prominent G.O.P. source tells TIME that a Bush envoy visited Minneapolis recently and spoke to Ventura allies about the Reform Party nomination. The envoy didn't explicitly push a Trump candidacy or a Ventura run--something the Minnesota Governor has officially ruled out. But the envoy did ask if Ventura would fight a Buchanan bid. The answer came back: he would welcome others in the race...
...G.O.P. circles for his dapper dress and libertarian leanings, began urging the Donald to run last spring. Trump wasn't interested. The developer had dabbled in politics at least once before. He spoke in New Hampshire in late 1987 but soon lost interest. Three weeks ago, Trump called Ventura, and the two talked politics. Ventura urged Trump to consider a run, pleading for a nonpolitician to carry the Reform Party flag. They discussed taxes, regulation and campaign-finance reform. Last week Ventura called Trump but did not commit to supporting him. After that call Trump asked Stone to assess...
...Ventura is also intent on staying in his Minnesota laboratory awhile, and so he is looking for a front man. His initial candidate for the 2000 nod was former Connecticut senator and governor Lowell P. Weicker, a thoughtful type who was the kind of maverick, reformist governor Ventura tries to be (except that Weicker is several dollars short on charisma). Weicker uses the R-word a lot, and means it; as a liberal Northeast Republican, he is a conservatives' answer to Bill Bradley (maybe he would have really caught on had he been better at basketball...). More recently, Ventura...
...These, at least, are sincere men (with judgment pending on the apolitical Trump), and they all fill what for Ventura is a necessary bill for the party: They're a breed apart. Buchanan, for all his posturing, is a political animal, a politician's politician. He happens to be a grassroots rabble-rouser because it keeps him on TV and sells books, and because no one else much wants to be one. He has the give-'em-hell attitude to excite the Reform party's lunatic fringe, and comes with his own built-in constituency ? a rabid band of anti...