* New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, 52, formally announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” At the risk of political naiveté, I still feel that such an important announcement about such an important office should have a forum other than a late-night comedy host.
I know it’s how you reach a wider demographic audience–and there’s ample precedent going all the way back to John F. Kennedy doing the old “Tonight Show.” But at a time when the presidency has been debased and demeaned by a grandstanding former reality-TV performer, we’ve never needed a sense of serious purpose and class more than now. The presidential-candidacy forum should reflect that.
* Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke has youth-energizing charisma, modern-media appeal, an impressive, grass-roots organization and proven (non-PAC) fund-raising wherewithal. It’s why he’s prominently in the mix among would-be, Democratic presidential contenders for 2020. Some early media polls actually have O’Rourke, 46, behind only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders among early favorites.
Imagine what we’d be seeing had he not lost his senate race to Ted Cruz, the most hated man in the Senate.