WHAT THIRD WAY IS READING: Wall Street Journal’s Ken Thomas and Kristina Peterson report that centrist group No Labels has dropped its effort to put forward a third-party “unity ticket” to win the White House in November.
— “‘No Labels is ending our effort to put forth a Unity ticket in the 2024 presidential election,’ Nancy Jacobson, No Labels’ founder and CEO, said in a statement. She said the organization had planned to offer its ballot line to a ticket only if it could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House.” — “‘No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down,’ she said, adding that the group would remain engaged in promoting unity and giving ‘voice to America’s commonsense majority.’” — “Jacobson told allies this week that the group would end its effort because it hasn’t been able to recruit a credible ticket that could win the election, according to people familiar with the process. They said Jacobson told supporters that the organization had reached out to 30 potential candidates during its process.” HOW THE TRANSITION TO EVS IS BOOSTING GAS STATIONS: “When Americans steer their electric vehicles off the highway and into shiny new charging stations — many paid for with federal tax dollars — they’re likely to find them in a curiously familiar place: the gas station,” E&E News’ David Ferris reports, meaning that the 2021 infrastructure law’s “$7.5 billion pot for charging is reinforcing the very fossil-fuel infrastructure that the EV era would seem to consign to oblivion.” — “That raises the prospect that money intended to cut emissions could throw a lifeline to companies that traditionally have raised them. Even so, many experts say the two industries are a natural fit,” but the seemingly odd bed fellowship isn’t a total coincidence: “After initially resisting EVs and their charging needs, fueling centers are now using their lobbying strength and financial might to win federal dollars they say are a necessary cushion to survive an expensive gas-to-EV transition.” — “As a result, the biggest winners at the dawn of the EV-charging era are some of the biggest fossil-fuel sellers — familiar names like Pilot Flying J, Love’s Travel Stops, Sheetz, Circle K and Wawa — along with the retail division of oil major Shell.” TRUMP’S LIV LIFELINE: This weekend at Trump National Doral near Miami, “rooms at the resort hotel will fill up with fans as a pro tournament featuring some of the biggest names in the sport gets underway on Friday. The resort’s restaurants and bars will pull in more business, and the Trump name will be beamed around the world on television and the internet.” — “Behind this surge in business at one of former President Donald J. Trump’s properties is his deal to host tournaments for LIV Golf, the upstart league sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund,” NYT’s Eric Lipton writes. — “LIV’s eagerness to pay to have Mr. Trump host tournaments at his resorts is just one more example of the ties between the Saudis and the Trump family even as he seeks the presidency again, an arrangement that continues to generate conflicts of a type and scale unique to Mr. Trump.” — But the ethics questions raised by the arrangement are further compounded “because of their intersection with the evolving nature of Mr. Trump’s business, which was once closely associated with city-center hotels but is now increasingly focused on golf.” TIKTOK'S SAVING GRACE?: “In a TV commercial, Sister Monica Clare, a nun in northern New Jersey, walks through a church that’s bathed in sunlight and sits in a pew, crossing herself. Her message: TikTok is a force for good.” — “Sister Monica Clare is one of several fans of TikTok — along with drawling ranchers, a Navy veteran known as Patriotic Kenny and entrepreneurs — whom the company is highlighting in commercials as it faces intense scrutiny in Washington,” the Times’ Sapna Maheshwari writes. — Since last month’s House vote sent legislation that could result in a ban on TikTok, “the company has spent at least $3.1 million on advertising time for commercials that are scheduled to run through April, according to data from AdImpact, a media tracking firm. … TikTok has also spent more than $100,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads recently, according to Meta’s Ad Library.” — “TikTok started amplifying the stories of everyday Americans like Sister Monica Clare and Patriotic Kenny last year, through a campaign it calls TikTok Sparks Good. Much of that effort appeared to be aimed at conservative audiences.” — “It spent an estimated $19 million on TV ads that appeared largely on news programs, especially Fox News, according to data from iSpot.tv, a TV measurement company. TikTok aired more than a dozen ads during Republican presidential debates or debate-related programming last year, the firm said. It is still running ads that promote creators from last year’s campaign.”
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