Yesterday Politico reported that Sheldon Adelson is warming up to Senator Marco Rubio as his best hope for influencing the presidency as he did with George W. Bush. No endorsement yet, but the two get along very well.

Last week, during a campaign swing through Las Vegas, Rubio held a meeting in Adelson’s offices at the Venetian Las Vegas, one of a number of five-star luxury casinos the billionaire mogul owns around the world. Adelson, seated at the head of his conference table, heaped praise on Rubio’s performance while he discussed the dynamics of the 2016 race. Those briefed on the meeting described it as short but said it had an air of importance, with the two joined by Rubio’s campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, and a pair of senior Adelson advisers, Rob Goldstein and Patrick Dumont.

The piece says that Rubio calls Adelson several times a month to pick his brain (!) and only mentions Israel once:

Rubio and Adelson have grown increasingly close, with the senator phoning the billionaire several times a month to provide in-depth updates on the state of his campaign. The two men also have detailed policy discussions, especially about international affairs and Israel — the latter a cause near and dear to the mogul.

Thankfully, the relationship is likely to become an issue this cycle, unlike the George W. Bush Adelson captivity. Note Jeff Danziger’s great cartoon. And here is Donald Trump on twitter

Sheldon Adelson is looking to give big dollars to Rubio because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet. I agree!

Remember, Adelson wants to nuke Iran. Adelson wishes he hadn’t served in the U.S. military but had served Israel instead. He’s a hugely controversial figure.

And Lobelog digs up a statement by Marco Rubio that if only the green movement in Iran had had guns, it could have escaped the crackdown in 2009, likening it to the Ben Carson howler on Jews averting the Holocaust if they had had guns.