Adding A Name

I've added another name to my master list of potential Democratic candidates. Michael Avenatti has become famous for representing Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who had an affair with Donald Trump. I don't see him as a potential president, but he's making noise about running so he's on the list, which now numbers 37.

Potential Democratic Candidates:

1. Michael Avenatti (Lawyer, represents Stormy Daniels and others) added Oct. 1
2. Joe Biden (Former VP)
3. Michael Bloomberg (Former mayor of New York City)
4. Peter Buttigieg (Mayor of South Bend, Indiana) added Sept. 8
5. Cory Booker (New Jersey senator)
6. Sherrod Brown (Ohio senator)
7. Jerry Brown (Governor of California)
8. Steve Bullock (Governor of Montana)
9. Julian Castro (Former secretary of Housing and Urban Development) 
10. Mark Cuban (Businessman, owner of the Dallas Mavericks)
11. Bill de Blasio (Mayor of New York City)
12. Tulsi Gabbard (Congresswoman from Hawaii) added Sept. 8
13. Eric Garcetti (Mayor of Los Angeles) 
14. Kirsten Gillibrand (New York senator)
15. Luis Gutierrez (Congressman from Illinois)
16. Kamala Harris (California senator)
17. John Hickenlooper (Governor of Colorado) 
18. Eric Holder (Former Attorney General)
19. Robert Iger (Businessman, Chairman/CEO of Disney)
20. Jay Inslee (Governor of Washington)
21. Tim Kaine (Virginia senator, 2016 VP nominee)
22. Jason Kander (Former Secretary of State of Missouri)
23. Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota senator)
24. Mitch Landrieu (Mayor of New Orleans)
25. Terry McAuliffe (Former governor of Virginia)
26. Jeff Merkley (Oregon senator)
27. Seth Moulton (Congressman from Massachusetts) 
28. Chris Murphy (Connecticut senator)
29. Martin O'Malley (Former governor of Maryland, ran in 2016 primaries)
30. Beto O'Rourke (Texas Congressman, running for the U.S. Senate) added Sept. 13
31. Deval Patrick (Former governor of Massachusetts)
32. Tim Ryan (Congressman from Ohio) added Sept. 8
33. Bernie Sanders (Vermont senator, registered Independent, ran in 2016 primaries)
34. Howard Schultz (Businessman, former CEO of Starbucks)
35. Tom Steyer (Businessman) added Sept. 8
36. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts senator)
37. Mark Zuckerberg (Businessman, founder of Facebook)

Days until the mid-term election: 36 
Days until the presidential election: 764

Update from 2026: For a brief moment in time, attorney Michael Avenatti was considered by someone, somewhere, to be a possible candidate for president. I guess in a country that elected Donald Trump twice, that's not so farfetched, but for Mr. Avenatti, it was downhill from there. The first line of his Wikipedia profile says he's "an American former attorney currently incarcerated for felony fraud and extortion," but that's actually a little out of date. In April, 2026. he was transferred from federal prison to a community-monitored halfway house near Hollywood, California, managed by the Bureau of Prisons. 

The Guessing Game - Updated

What will be on the cover of People this week? Just a few guesses, along with a (possible) Bachelor spoiler:

Lara Spencer and/or chef Katie Lee: Celebrity Weddings
Meghan McCain: Fiery words at her father's funeral
Geoffrey Owens: The former Cosby Show actor now working at Trader Joe's. Fox News and the Daily Mail published "job shaming" photos of him at work
The new Bachelor: Will be announced on Good Morning, America tomorrow. Is it Colton? Reality Steve says so, but as we've seen in the past, producers have occasionally changed their mind at the very last moment. (Two years ago, Luke Pell, from JoJo's season, got as far as checking in for his flight to L.A. the next day, before getting a call from producers who told him they had "decided to go in another direction.") Colton strikes some Bach Nation denizens as immature and not ready to star in his own season. As I'm writing on Monday morning, he's also still with Tia on Bachelor in Paradise, although previews of tonight's episode appear to show them breaking up. Will this year's choice, whoever it is, be controversial? King of Bachelor Nation Mike Fleiss appears to think so and has asked for calm:

Please be respectful of all our candidates to be the next #TheBachelor . They are all good guys! We don’t want a divided #BachelorNation !!!

— Mike Fleiss (@fleissmeister) August 30, 2018

David Hogg: The Parkland shooting survivor raised thousands of dollars for an anti-Ted Cruz billboard featuring an old Donald Trump tweet:

David Hogg raises thousands to place billboard of Trump's anti-Cruz tweet in Texas https://t.co/GQ1ckbrr3z pic.twitter.com/G54sq0lHzH

— The Hill (@thehill) September 2, 2018

He did it in response to this:

I will be doing a major rally for Senator Ted Cruz in October. I’m picking the biggest stadium in Texas we can find. As you know, Ted has my complete and total Endorsement. His opponent is a disaster for Texas - weak on Second Amendment, Crime, Borders, Military, and Vets!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 31, 2018

Hogg also pointed out there was a lot of material to choose from:

So many wonderful selections to choose from... Thank you @POTUS pic.twitter.com/Q9dmuQr2AT

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) September 2, 2018

Tuesday morning update: Yes, Colton is the new Bachelor and yes, pretty much everyone in Bach Nation has an opinion:

Meanwhile, in an alternate reality, this handsome devil will be handing out roses. You'll always be my dream Bachelor, @still_wills. pic.twitter.com/YG61x4kAxE

— Kristen Baldwin (@KristenGBaldwin) September 4, 2018

I may be done, guys. https://t.co/1UvFS9qpt1

— Emily L. Foley (@EmilyLFoley) September 4, 2018

You’re telling me we could have had-
1.  Wills: the swaggiest/best dressed Bachelor
2. Jason: the most well-rounded, emotionally intelligent Bachelor
3. Blake: the sweetest/most open Bachelor
... but somehow we settled on the boring guy that dumped Tia twice? #TheBachelor pic.twitter.com/rdRbQ5moDv

— Katie Drennen (@thekatiedrennen) September 4, 2018

Me when GMA announces Colton as the next Bachelor #TheBachelor pic.twitter.com/JLXpNYP3xV

— Hope (@ohitshope) September 4, 2018

When you order something online vs. when it arrives in the mail 😭 #TheBachelor pic.twitter.com/v2TMIlYZzT

— Kara Apel (@KaraApel) September 4, 2018

Last year: Give us Peter.

Bachelor franchise: Okay! How about some guy you dont even remember?

This year: Give us Wills, Grocery Joe, Blake, LITERALLY ANYONE BUT COLTON

Bachelor francise: #TheBachelor pic.twitter.com/DX6VXjsoWT

— Megan Farber (@15mefarber) September 4, 2018

Tia weighed in with this:

Congratulations @Colt3FIVE 🌹 I hope your season is full of protein powder, puppies, and naps! #TheBachelor

— Tia Booth (@tiarachel91) September 4, 2018

... and this:

And NO I will NOT be a contestant on Colton’s season. Lord bless.

— Tia Booth (@tiarachel91) September 4, 2018

What about Grocery Joe? The rumor is that he gets the consolation prize of dancing on Dancing. 

Update #2: Miss America. A new one will be chosen Sunday night, presumably with no swimsuit competition. Will anyone watch?

Stories that appear on the new cover will be highlighted in green.

Wednesday morning, update #3: No green this week. See the new cover, featuring Michelle LeClair/Scientology, here.

Update from 2026: Colton was, in fact, chosen to be the Bachelor; his season aired January - March, 2019. In a big Bachelor Nation surprise, however, he came out as gay in April, 2021, and as of May 13, 2023, is married to a man named Jordan Brown.   

The Royal Women Of Windsor (And Becca & Garrett) - Updated

Issue dated August 20, 2018: Royal Women


People rushes out the new cover two days early, and in a break from their usual practice, Becca and Garrett are not the main story. Instead, the magazine goes with another royal cover, the 10th one featuring Meghan since her engagement last November. For the record, I can't imagine any royal "secrets" that we haven't heard before. Chip and Joanna show up again too.

As I said last year when Nick and Vanessa were bumped down to a sidebar, I wonder if Becca and Garrett knew they weren't getting the main cover headline. (What I'm really wondering is if they're disappointed, annoyed and/or seriously pissed off.) The "lives, loves and secrets" of the royal women are hardly breaking news, that story could easily have been held until next week. Is People falling out of love with the Bachelor franchise? Maybe, but not completely. As I'm writing on Monday night, just after the 3-hour finale episode finished up, there are several Bachelorette stories at People.com, and more will probably pop up in the morning.

At this point I'm mostly over The Bachelorette. What I want to know is, who's the next Bachelor? (I wrote a long post about it a few days ago, read it here.) People has a story about that too, titled "Who Should Be the Next Bachelor? Our Top Three Picks--and a Wild Card Suitor." Read it here, or here's the short version: the top three picks are Becca's 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers, aka Blake, Jason and Colton; the wild card is Grocery Joe. 

If you're counting, we now have four engaged Bachelorette couples (Kaitlyn and Shawn, JoJo and Jordan, Rachel and Bryan, and now Becca and Garrett.) Will ABC pony up for one or more televised weddings? My feeling, regarding Kaitlyn and JoJo in particular, is that if a TV wedding was going to happen it would have happened by now, but who knows. ABC may have a few spare hours to fill at some point down the line. As of right now, getting engaged on Bachelor In Paradise is the best way to get a TV wedding.

Last year at this time: Issue dated August 21, 2017


Update: I might have figured out why Becca and Garrett only got a sidebar headline. Do you remember Kate Coyne? She's an executive editor at People, responsible for writing some or all of the cover headlines. During the Bachelor finale in March, we learned that she really doesn't like Arie. (Read about that here.) Now it turns out she's not a fan of Garrett either:

In my lengthy relationship with Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, I’ve come across a lot of hateful memes. Memes mocking women, refugees, the LGBTQ+ communities, even mass shooting survivors. I’ve seen the worst of them. You know what I’ve never done? LIKED any of them. 2/x

— Kate Coyne (@KatePeople) August 7, 2018

And to be clear, we’re talking about memes barely a year old. Not even in many cases. These are sentiments that #Garrett LIKED within this past year. He can claim he’s grown and changed, and yet: he expressed no regret nor deleted his account...until he got caught. 4/x

— Kate Coyne (@KatePeople) August 7, 2018

His excuse was that it was a “mindless tap” on those pages. Over half a dozen times, though. That’s a whole lot of mindless-ness. And again: no remorse for it until busted. So...as someone who has always loved #TheBachelorette and will continue to love it... 5/x

— Kate Coyne (@KatePeople) August 7, 2018

And as someone who will happily show up for the premiere of @BachelorABC (so rooting for the return of @peterkrauswi!) I think when it comes to this season? And this guy? I’ve had all the mindless-ness I can take. I’m out. But best of luck to Becca and whoever she chooses. 😘 6/6

— Kate Coyne (@KatePeople) August 7, 2018

Was it Kate Coyne who downgraded Becca and Garrett? I think it's possible.

Tuesday morning, update #2: A close-up of Becca's ring. The women in my Twitter feed hated it.


As Garrett was picking out the ring on the show last night, I was wondering what happened to Becca's first ring. You know, the one from Arie. In People's "20 Seasons of The Bachelor," published two years ago, Neil Lane was asked the question, "If the relationship doesn't work out, do the women keep their rings?" His answer: "I don't know where they go. I just say it goes to ring heaven." So where is Becca's first ring now? Someone must know. Lane explains how he created the new ring here.

Update #3: In an interview with Variety, ABC Sr. VP Robert Mills talks weddings:

Have you discussed with Becca and Garrett any plans to televise their wedding?

It’s funny because I feel like we’ve got this lineup of engaged couples now so we have to figure out what to do. None of them seem to want to take us up on a mass wedding, which I understand, although I’d love that [laughing]. But yes, I’m sure we’ll talk with them about what next steps are in their relationship. On “After the Final Rose,” we’ll talk about whether they’ve discussed a timeline. (Read the article here.) 

Update from 2026: What happened to the four engaged couples, highlighted above? Kaitlyn and Sean broke up, Jo Jo and Jordan got married on May 15, 2022 and are still married. Rachel and Bryan got married on August 24, 2019; their divorce was finalized in January, 2025. Becca and Garrett broke up almost immediately after her season aired.