The ‘Sheldon Primary’ is one reason Americans distrust the political system

Jerome Favre/Bloomberg - Sheldon Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., center left, and wife Miriam Adelson pose for photographs as they leave a news conference during the opening of the Sands Cotai Central resort in Macau, China, in 2012.

By Dan Balz, Updated: Friday, March 28, 9:07 AM

Several prospective Republican presidential candidates have gathered in Las Vegas for the opening round of what has been dubbed “the Sheldon Primary,” an event emblematic of how warped the system for financing presidential elections has become.

The Sheldon Primary is named for Sheldon Adelson, the wealthy casino owner who, with his wife, poured more than $92 million into the 2012 elections. Despite all that money, Adelson made some bad bets in the last election, first on former House speaker Newt Gingrich to win the Republican nomination and then on Mitt Romney to defeat President Obama in the general election.

He is now looking toward 2016 with a fresh eye, determined, according to The Post’s Matea Gold and Philip Rucker, to find a non-extremist candidate who can actually win the presidency. Those who are looking at running would be happy to have that kind of financial support. Some of them have come to Las Vegas on Friday for a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, but also to meet privately with Adelson.

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