
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tanner McKee’s first career NFL touchdown pass was thrown to a Philadelphia Eagles fan named Patrick. OK, McKee actually threw the 20-yard TD to Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J Brown, who — in a momentary lapse of reason — chucked the souvenir football into the Lincoln Financial field stands. Uh-oh. “I felt so bad,” Brown said, “because I threw it so far.” McKee, a sixth-round pick out of Stanford in 2023, is a career third-string QB who had never played a regular-season snap until he was pressed into emergency duty Sunday against Dallas. Jalen Hurts did not start because of a concussion and Kenny Pickett — who ran and threw for a TD in the Eagles' 41-7 win — was knocked of the game with injured ribs. That opened the door for the 24-year-old McKee to play in a game in which the Eagles clinched the NFC East. He did his part — including the 20-yard strike in the third that made it 34-7. The celebration was temporarily muted when he realized his ball — a milestone keepsake for any player — was somewhere in the stands. Little did McKee know the ball was coming back to him. Eagles fans kicked off a bit of a relay with the ball once they realized its significance to McKee. The fan who caught the ball was promised a jersey from Brown. He sent the ball to one fan, who passed it to Eagles security chief “Big” Dom DiSandro to hand to another Eagles employee to Brown and finally to McKee. Souvenir secured. “I appreciate whoever gave the ball back,” McKee said. “(Brown) was like, ‘I’m sorry, bro. I got the ball back.’ So, yeah, it was good. He made a great play, and obviously a great catch.” It was Brown's throw that needed work. Brown stripped off and signed his game jersey and handed it to a fan named Patrick as a thank-you for returning the football — all while fans chanted “E-A-G-L-E-S!” around him. “We've got great fans here,” Brown said. McKee needed more room on the trophy shelf — he threw a second TD pass in the fourth quarter. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFLColorado vs. Kansas prediction, odds, best bets for NCAAF Week 13
Jacksonville St. 86, East Carolina 78
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Liverpool boss Arne Slot hailed “special” Mohamed Salah after seeing him fire the Premier League leaders to the brink of victory at Newcastle. The Reds ultimately left St James’ Park with only a point after Fabian Schar snatched a 3-3 draw at the end of a pulsating encounter, but Salah’s double – his 14th and 15th goals of the season – transformed a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead before the Switzerland defender’s late intervention. The 32-year-old Egypt international’s future at Anfield remains a topic of debate with his current contract running down. Asked about Salah’s future, Slot said: “It’s difficult for me to predict the long-term future, but the only thing I can expect or predict is that he is in a very good place at the moment. “He plays in a very good team that provides him with good opportunities and then he is able to do special things. “And what makes him for me even more special is that in the first hour or before we scored to make it 1-1, you thought, ‘He’s not playing his best game today’, and to then come up with a half-hour or 45 minutes – I don’t know how long it was – afterwards with an assist, two goals, having a shot on the bar, being a constant threat, that is something not many players can do if they’ve played the first hour like he did. “That is also what makes him special. If you just look at the goals, his finish is so clinical. He’s a special player, but that’s what we all know.” Salah did indeed endure a quiet opening 45 minutes by his standards and it was the Magpies who went in at the break a goal to the good after Alexander Isak’s stunning 35th-minute finish. Salah set up Curtis Jones to level five minutes into the second half and after Anthony Gordon has restored the hosts’ lead, levelled himself from substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 68th-minute cross. He looked to have won it with a fine turn and finish – his ninth goal in seven league games – seven minutes from time, only for Schar to pounce from a tight angle in the 90th minute. Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe was delighted with the way his team took the game to the Reds four days after their disappointing 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace. “Part of me feels we should have won it – a big part of me – but part of me is pleased we didn’t lose either because it was such a late goal for us. “Generally, I’m just pleased with the performance. There was much more attacking output, a much better feel about the team. “There was much better energy, and it was a really good performance against, for me, the best team we’ve played so far this season in the Premier League, so it was a big jump forward for us.”UnitedHealthcare CEO kept a low public profile. Then he was shot to death in New York
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Former President Jimmy Carter, the God-fearing Georgia peanut farmer who survived a disastrous one-term White House stay to launch a second career as a Nobel Prize-winning advocate for global human rights, died Sunday at 100. Carter went into hospice care at home on Feb. 18 after a short series of hospital stays, the Carter Center charity organization said at the time. The ex-commander-in-chief opted to spend his final days with family rather than seek any additional medical intervention. His son Chip confirmed his death, at his home in Plains , to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His wife of 74 years, Rosalynn Carter, preceded him in death on Nov. 19, 2023. The 39th president was in attendance at her memorial service Nov. 28, where, seated in a wheelchair with a blanket over his lap, he appeared frail and was unable to speak, according to family. His daughter Amy delivered remarks on his behalf at the service. Carter, a Democrat, lived longer than any other U.S. president, earning that distinction in 2019 when he reached 94 years and 172 days old. Relegated to the historical sidelines after a four-year presidency mired in malaise, Carter rebounded to write 32 books, build houses for the poor, stand up to tyranny abroad and capture the coveted Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Carter took office in 1977. With his victory over incumbent Gerald Ford, he aimed to restore faith in America and its government after the nightmare of Watergate forced President Nixon to resign in disgrace. But his own term was plagued by rampant inflation, long gas lines, wars in Afghanistan and Nicaragua, and a 444-day hostage crisis in Iran — the latter low-lighted by an embarrassingly failed rescue attempt. Carter’s bid for reelection was crushed by Republican Ronald Reagan, sending the former commander in chief back to Georgia a beaten man, deeply unpopular and seemingly destined for obscurity. Carter instead grabbed a hammer, climbed a ladder and built houses for the poor with Habitat for Humanity. He boarded planes to monitor elections abroad and broker peace deals. And he returned to his church in Plains, Ga., to teach Sunday school. “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something,” Carter told his biographer, Jim Wooten, in 1995. “My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have, to try to make a difference. “Most of the time, believe it or not, I enjoy myself.” James Earl Carter, Jr. was the first American president born in a hospital — Wise Sanitarium in tiny Plains, Ga., where his mother worked as a nurse. He was raised without electricity or plumbing on his family’s nearby peanut farm. The backwoods town of 600 residents would remain Carter’s beloved and modest home for the rest of his life. His father Earl was an enthusiastic segregationist. But his mother, known to all as Miss Lillian, made a point of caring for poor Black women while cheering on Black boxer Joe Louis and baseball’s color-line defying Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Carter joined the Navy in 1943 to see the world and did so well at Annapolis that he earned a place in the new, elite nuclear submarine program. Nine years later, Carter helped build the reactor for the first nuclear sub and did graduate work in nuclear physics at Union College. The following year, he went home to save the ailing family farm, and with new bride Rosalynn, welcomed three sons and a daughter. He became a deacon at Plains Baptist Church, served on civic boards and in the Georgia state senate. Carter won the Georgia governorship in 1970, at least in part by cozying up to segregationists, who were then furious when he declared the time for racial discrimination was over. Carter soon began outlining the remarkable national campaign that propelled “Jimmy Who?” past a half-dozen high-profile Democrats to the party’s presidential nomination. He stressed his honesty, sincerity, Christianity and outsider status — the perfect panacea for voters in the aftermath of Watergate and Vietnam. Despite some gaffes — he nearly blew a 30-point lead after infamously confessing to Playboy that he had “lusted in my heart” after other women — Carter vanquished Ford in the bicentennial year of 1976. He tried from the start to return humility to the White House. Carter walked the inaugural parade route rather than ride in a limo, banned the playing of “Hail to the Chief,” carried his own luggage and personally kept the schedule for the White House tennis court. But his outsider status didn’t play well on Capitol Hill, where Democratic party leaders regarded him as sanctimonious and balked at his agenda. His younger brother, Billy, who hawked Billy Beer and got drunk in public, didn’t help when he cozied up to Libyan officials and collected $220,000 from the nation’s government. A bizarre attack by a rabid swimming rabbit during a fishing trip added to Carter’s hapless image. His big foreign policy achievement — personally brokering the 1978 Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt — failed to save him. Though he never actually said the word, a malaise settled over his White House. In 1980, voters overwhelmingly chose Reagan’s sunny optimism over Carter’s gloomy warnings about cutting back and conserving. He lost 44 states in the general election. The undaunted political has-been went on to found The Carter Center, which pioneered election monitoring and sent watchdogs to 81 elections in 33 countries. Carter personally traveled on peace missions to Haiti, Bosnia, Ethiopia, North Korea, Sudan, Nepal and Colombia. Though criticized for talking to despots, dictators and tyrants, his rebuttal was always simple: “I’ll talk with anybody who wants to talk about peace.” Carter insisted his presidency was more successful than people remember, noting recently that the United States military never launched a missile or dropped a bomb under his watch. Carter announced in August 2015 that he had cancer after having surgery to remove a small mass from his liver. Though the cancer spread to his liver and brain, the battled-toughened old politician pulled through. He was survived by his three sons, Jack, Chip and Jeff; a daughter, Amy; and 11 grandchildren, including one who captured grandfather’s old seat in the Georgia state senate. ©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
PARADIGM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIVE WITH INDATAThere is more NBA Cup action taking place on Friday, Nov. 22 and among the eight games taking place, there is one involving the New Orleans Pelicans welcoming the Golden State Warriors to Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on ESPN and ESPN Deportes . Fans looking to watch this NBA game can do so for free by using FuboTV and DirecTV Stream, which both offer a free trial or with SlingTV, which doesn’t offer a free trial but has promotional offers available . The Pelicans are 1-1 in NBA Cup games so far and only 4-11 overall. However, three of those wins have come at home, including their win over the Denver Nuggets last week in an NBA Cup matchup. The Warriors are 11-3 on the season and 2-0 and at the top of the group for the NBA Cup. Who: Golden State Warriors vs. New Orleans Pelicans When: Friday, Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. EST Where: Smoothie King Center in New Orleans Stream: FuboTV (free trial) ; Sling ; DirecTV Stream (free trial) Betting: Check out our MA sports betting guide , where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts. More College Football What is FuboTV? FuboTV is an internet television service that offers more than 200 channels across sports and entertainment including Paramount+ with SHOWTIME . From the UEFA Champions League to the WNBA to international tournaments ranging across sports, there’s plenty of options available on FuboTV, which offers a free trial, and $20 off the first month for new costumers. What is DirecTV Stream? DirecTV Stream offers practically everything DirecTV provides, except for a remote and a streaming device to connect to your television. Sign up now and get three free months of premium channels including MAX , Paramount+ with SHOWTIME and Starz. What is SlingTV? SlingTV offers a variety of live programing ranging from news and sports and starting as low as $20 a month for your first month. Subscribers also get a month of DVR Plus free if they sign up now. Choose from a variety of sports packages without long-term contracts and with easy cancelation. RELATED CONTENT: Analysis: Some NBA teams know it’s time to shake out of early-season slides — or else By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer MIAMI (AP) — Postgame interviews in the NBA typically start about 10 minutes after the final buzzer. Coaches usually speak first, followed by a few players. When a team wins, most people are in a great mood. When a team loses, not so much. That’s the normal routine. Things are not normal for Philadelphia right now. Philadelphia lost in Miami on Monday night, the 76ers wasting an early 19-point lead and falling 106-89. The game ended at 9:51 p.m. It took more than an hour for coach Nick Nurse to emerge for his postgame media session. The reason — a team meeting, because the 76ers had a lot to talk about after falling to 2-11 on the season. “Sorry for the delay,” Nurse said to the half-dozen or so reporters who waited out his arrival. He took questions like normal, then the locker room opened and a few players talked as well. There’s a lot of the season left. The first quarter of the 82-game marathon isn’t even over. It’s not time to start panicking. But some teams, quite frankly, know it’s time for things to get better — Philly atop that list. Since the NBA went to the current 16-team playoff format in 1984, there have been only four teams with losing records after 15 games that made it to the NBA Finals: San Antonio in 1998-99, Detroit in 2004-05, Boston in 2021-22 and Miami in 2022-23. They were all 7-8. That’s bad news for Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Miami — three teams that just haven’t hit anything close to their best stride yet. Injuries are a huge part of that; Khris Middleton hasn’t played yet for Milwaukee, Joel Embiid played Monday night for only the third time this season for the 76ers, and the Heat got Jimmy Butler back after more than a week Monday but were without Terry Rozier and Jaime Jaquez Jr. But the Heat are 6-7, the Bucks are 5-9 and 76ers are 2-11. And that’s not anywhere near what those clubs expected coming into the year, injuries or no. “There’s urgency there, for sure,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “If you look at in both conferences, there’s urgency throughout the conferences. And I think there’s parity. It brings out great competition. It brings out all these different emotions. You win a game, you feel like everything is great. You lose a game, you feel like the world is coming down. That’s what competition does, particularly when you’re jostling so competitively in the standings where there’s a lot of teams bunched up.” Philadelphia hasn’t scored 100 points in three of its last four games, hasn’t even reached 90 points in either of its last two games. And here’s a weird stat: the 76ers are 2-0 in overtime games this season, 0-11 in games that end after 48 minutes. “Listen, it’s obviously difficult, right? Don’t like the losing, that’s for sure,” Nurse said. “I mean, it doesn’t matter. The games are coming and we’ve got to figure some things out. We’ve got to play better. Got to get our guys on the floor. There’s a lot of things going on. But we’ve got to go out and play and somehow sustain. A lot of these games, there’s lots of very good moments for long, long stretches.” Cleveland and Boston have obviously separated themselves atop the Eastern Conference; the 15-0 Cavaliers visit the 11-3 Celtics in an NBA Cup game on Tuesday night. From there, the rest of the East — from Orlando at 9-6 to Philly in a group at 2-11 — are separated by just six games, with about a million games left to play. Nobody is out of it, certainly not a 76ers team that has Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and an NBA champion point guard in Kyle Lowry. “I mean, 2-11 is pretty bad, of course,” Philly’s Jared McCain said. “But it’s still the beginning of the season. Least minutes played as a team together, so I say it all the time: Give us grace. We’ve got to get better.” To be fair, there was nothing that seemed to be shattered in the 76ers' locker room when the team meeting finally ended. No broken whiteboards, no signs of trouble, and many players were cracking jokes. “We had a meeting? I didn’t know,” Embiid said, which was his way of letting reporters know that he wasn’t going to spill the tea on anything that got said behind closed doors. He did concede, however, that he might need to be more aggressive going forward. The 76ers are figuring out how to make all the pieces fit, but Embiid knows they can’t keep going down this path. “We’ve got that record,” Embiid said, “and something needs to be done about it.” The Associated Press contributed to this article
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Chef's Market shows us how to make a holiday Prime Rib RoastEven when Luigi Mangione was surrounded by people who cared about him, he was isolated by a spinal defect that gave the athletic young man crippling pain and contributed to a jaundiced view of the US healthcare system. Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Credit: nna\josh.hohne Authorities have charged Mangione, 26, with murder in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York and police said on Wednesday they believe the motive was animosity toward the health insurance industry and corporate America. New York police found a three-page, handwritten document on Mangione that expressed disdain for the health business, they’ve said. Mangione foreshadowed that scepticism about the healthcare industry on Reddit in April as he offered advice for getting a doctor to perform spinal surgery. “Tell them you are ‘unable to work’ / do your job,” he wrote. “We live in a capitalist society. I’ve found that the medical industry responds to these key words far more urgently than you describing unbearable pain and how it’s impacting your quality of life.” Mangione’s Reddit posts, under the name mister_cactus, had once linked to his personal programming site and offered numerous matching personal details. Reddit declined to confirm whether the account, which was deactivated this week, belonged to him. Reporters reviewed the posts in an internet archive. A poster depicting Luigi Mangione hangs outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel in New York. Credit: AP Nothing in his Reddit posts reviewed by The Washington Post presaged violence. Authorities have not laid out their case for what they think drove Mangione to escalate his frustration with the health system, which is common in the United States, into an allegedly premeditated murder of a prominent executive. Thomas M. Dickey, an attorney for Mangione, didn’t respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Mangione’s arrest has stunned his friends and family, most of whom appeared to have lost touch with him in the last six months. “We all condemn violence of any kind,” said Josiah Ryan, a spokesman for Surfbreak HNL, a co-living community in Honolulu where Mangione lived for six months in 2022. He added: “There’s sadness because he was a person who was well-loved and no one saw this coming.” Ryan said Mangione’s back pain was well-known within the Surfbreak community. “It was a real problem for him, and he had to think about that in a way that most 24-year-old young men living in Hawaii would not have to worry about their health,” Ryan said. Mangione at the police station in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Credit: Pennsylvania State Police/AP Mangione’s struggles with his back pain offer a glimpse into the interior life of a man who outwardly lived a charmed existence – the scion of a wealthy family in Maryland who was valedictorian of his prestigious private school in Baltimore and earned degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania. In archived Reddit comments, Mangione doesn’t express anger toward UnitedHealthcare or other health insurers. But the posts chronicle his struggle over the years to deal with back pain that became increasingly debilitating. “From childhood until age 23, my back would always ache if I stood too long, but it wasn’t too bad,” he wrote in February. But as he entered his mid-20s, the pain began to disrupt his life. He once described the sensation of an unstable spine as being able to “feel the bones moving/grinding.” He also struggled with cognitive issues, according to his posts. In a Reddit group focused on brain fog, he wrote, “The people around you probably won’t understand your symptoms – they certainly don’t for me.” By January 2022, Mangione was living at Surfbreak in Hawaii, where a surfing accident exacerbated his spinal condition, according to his Reddit posts and interviews with friends. He had a spinal fusion surgery – a procedure that stabilises the spine with surgical screws – in July 2023, according to his Reddit posts, and he seemed pleased with the results for months afterward. “Haven’t had a bad day since,” he wrote in November 2023. Mangione’s discussion of surgery aligns with an image of an X-ray prominently displayed on his profile for the social media platform X. An orthopedic surgeon who reviewed the image for The Post described it as a “lumbar spine with posterior spinal instrumentation, possible fusion”. It’s a common procedure for people with spondylolisthesis, a condition where a vertebra shifts forward and can cause excruciating pain in the lower back. He found a community on Reddit dedicated to spondylolisthesis, which he described as “my injury” in handwritten notes uploaded to his profile on the book-review site Goodreads in 2019. Mangione regularly offered advice to others, sometimes with an edge of bitterness about the reluctance of the medical profession to provide the care he considered necessary. To persuade doctors reluctant to perform surgery, he suggested an extreme option would be to “fake a foot drop” (difficulty lifting the front part of the foot) “or piss yourself. This is the absolute nuclear option, but there comes a point where it’s just ridiculous that people won’t operate on your broken spine.” His struggles drew empathy from people close to him. Surfbreak’s owner RJ Martin told the New York Times that Mangione “knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn’t possible”. In a text message to The Post , Martin said he was overwhelmed and exhausted and deferred comment to Ryan, his spokesman. Martin found Mangione “to be a really special person,” Ryan said. “He expected to have a lifelong friendship with him.” Mangione’s arrest “was pretty devastating for him”. Marc McCoy, 59, owner of Moped Garage, a store near Surfbreak, said that he sold Mangione a moped and that they had multiple conversations. The Maryland native was eager to talk to McCoy, who has lived in Hawaii for a half-century, about how to fit in and respect the local culture and not be an ugly American stereotype, McCoy said. “He was well-spoken, intelligent, conscientious,” he said. “I’m in complete shock.” Mangione spent some time in Japan this year. A picture posted to X in late February by Japanese professional poker player Jun Obara shows him appearing to enjoy a meal at a Tokyo restaurant with a smiling Mangione and others. “He came in by himself and we talked to him and treated him to a meal and drinks because we wanted him to enjoy Japan,” Obara wrote in a subsequent post this week. “He said he was on vacation from Hawaii.” Most friends and family appear to have lost touch with Mangione since May. That appears to be when he last posted to his accounts on Goodreads and Reddit, where he linked to a video shared by another user in a group for discussing Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. Members of the New York police crime scene unit photograph bullets lying on the footpath. Credit: AP His apparently last post on X, formerly Twitter, was a retweet of a podcast episode on how smartphones and social media impact mental health on June 10. June 10 also was the last time Gurwinder Bhogal, a UK-based writer, said he received a message from Mangione, who was seeking advice about curating his social media feeds. The two had struck up a correspondence in April after Mangione subscribed to his Substack publication. They discussed politics, said Bhogal, who recalled him complaining “about how expensive health care in the U.S. was.” In comments circulated to reporters, Bhogal wrote, “Overall, the impression I got of him, besides his curiosity and kindness, was a deep concern for the future of humanity, and a determination to improve himself and the world.” United Healthcare chief executive Brian Thompson. Credit: AP He added, “He was so polite and thoughtful it was hard to conceive of him murdering someone.” Mangione’s movements in the summer and fall are still not clear. Mangione’s mother, Kathleen Mangione, called the San Francisco police on Nov. 18 and said her son had not been heard from since July, according to local media reports. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Post that a missing-person report was filed. The San Francisco Police Department declined to comment on the case and referred questions to New York police. An NYPD spokesperson declined to comment on the missing-person report. Washington Post Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here .Javon Small scored 31 points to rally West Virginia to an 86-78 overtime upset of No. 3 Gonzaga in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, Wednesday in Nassau, Bahamas. The Mountaineers (4-1) trailed by 10 points early in the second half and by five in the final minute. But over the final 19 seconds of regulation, Tucker DeVries scored five straight points to send the game to overtime. In the extra session, Small scored five points and West Virginia held Gonzaga to a single field goal, which came after the outcome was decided with 19 seconds left. Amani Hansberry added a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds for West Virginia, which advances to the semifinals Thursday against another surprise first-round winner, Louisville, which stunned No. 15 Indiana. Braden Huff scored 19 points and Khalif Battle added 16 points for Gonzaga (5-1) which settles for a consolation-round game Thursday against Indiana. Nolan Hickman tallied 13 points. Ryan Nembhard delivered seven points and 12 assists for the Bulldogs. Huff put Gonzaga in position to win when he made three hook shots in the final 2:34 of regulation as the Bulldogs turned a one-point deficit into a 69-66 lead. Two free throws by Nembhard expanded the lead to 71-66 with 25 seconds left. But DeVries followed with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and then made a mid-court steal and drew a foul with 5.9 seconds left. His two free throws sent it to overtime. The Mountaineers never trailed in overtime. Sencire Harris wrapped it up with a steal and a breakaway slam that put West Virginia up 84-76 with 26 seconds left. Battle, a transfer from Arkansas, scored eight points in a span of 90 seconds late in the first half as the Bulldogs took control on their way to a 39-31 lead at the break. Gonzaga earned its biggest lead early in the second half when Graham Ike scored inside with an assist from Nembhard to make it 43-33. But West Virginia responded with a 17-2 run, fueled by Small as he hit two 3-pointers and two layups. Hansberry drained a trey and DeVries grinded for a putback layup to give the Mountaineers a 50-45 lead with 12:26 left. DeVries finished the game with 16 points and four blocks. --Field Level Media
It was no different for Jimmy Carter in the early 1970s. It took meeting several presidential candidates and then encouragement from an esteemed elder statesman before the young governor, who had never met a president himself, saw himself as something bigger. He announced his White House bid on December 12 1974, amid fallout from the Vietnam War and the resignation of Richard Nixon. Then he leveraged his unknown, and politically untainted, status to become the 39th president. That whirlwind path has been a model, explicit and otherwise, for would-be contenders ever since. “Jimmy Carter’s example absolutely created a 50-year window of people saying, ‘Why not me?’” said Steve Schale, who worked on President Barack Obama’s campaigns and is a long-time supporter of President Joe Biden. Mr Carter’s journey to high office began in Plains, Georgia where he received end-of-life care decades after serving as president. David Axelrod, who helped to engineer Mr Obama’s four-year ascent from state senator to the Oval Office, said Mr Carter’s model is about more than how his grassroots strategy turned the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary into his springboard. “There was a moral stain on the country, and this was a guy of deep faith,” Mr Axelrod said. “He seemed like a fresh start, and I think he understood that he could offer something different that might be able to meet the moment.” Donna Brazile, who managed Democrat Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, got her start on Mr Carter’s two national campaigns. “In 1976, it was just Jimmy Carter’s time,” she said. Of course, the seeds of his presidential run sprouted even before Mr Nixon won a second term and certainly before his resignation in August 1974. In Mr Carter’s telling, he did not run for governor in 1966, he lost, or in 1970 thinking about Washington. Even when he announced his presidential bid, neither he nor those closest to him were completely confident. “President of what?” his mother, Lillian, replied when he told her his plans. But soon after he became governor in 1971, Mr Carter’s team envisioned him as a national player. They were encouraged in part by the May 31 Time magazine cover depicting Mr Carter alongside the headline “Dixie Whistles a Different Tune”. Inside, a flattering profile framed Mr Carter as a model “New South” governor. In October 1971, Carter ally Dr Peter Bourne, an Atlanta physician who would become US drug tsar, sent his politician friend an unsolicited memo outlining how he could be elected president. On October 17, a wider circle of advisers sat with Mr Carter at the Governor’s Mansion to discuss it. Mr Carter, then 47, wore blue jeans and a T-shirt, according to biographer Jonathan Alter. The team, including Mr Carter’s wife Rosalynn, who died aged 96 in November 2023, began considering the idea seriously. “We never used the word ‘president’,” Mr Carter recalled upon his 90th birthday, “but just referred to national office”. Mr Carter invited high-profile Democrats and Washington players who were running or considering running in 1972, to one-on-one meetings at the mansion. He jumped at the chance to lead the Democratic National Committee’s national campaign that year. The position allowed him to travel the country helping candidates up and down the ballot. Along the way, he was among the Southern governors who angled to be George McGovern’s running mate. Mr Alter said Mr Carter was never seriously considered. Still, Mr Carter got to know, among others, former vice president Hubert Humphrey and senators Henry Jackson of Washington, Eugene McCarthy of Maine and Mr McGovern of South Dakota, the eventual nominee who lost a landslide to Mr Nixon. Mr Carter later explained he had previously defined the nation’s highest office by its occupants immortalised by monuments. “For the first time,” Mr Carter told The New York Times, “I started comparing my own experiences and knowledge of government with the candidates, not against ‘the presidency’ and not against Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. It made it a whole lot easier”. Adviser Hamilton Jordan crafted a detailed campaign plan calling for matching Mr Carter’s outsider, good-government credentials to voters’ general disillusionment, even before Watergate. But the team still spoke and wrote in code, as if the “higher office” were not obvious. It was reported during his campaign that Mr Carter told family members around Christmas 1972 that he would run in 1976. Mr Carter later wrote in a memoir that a visit from former secretary of state Dean Rusk in early 1973 affirmed his leanings. During another private confab in Atlanta, Mr Rusk told Mr Carter plainly: “Governor, I think you should run for president in 1976.” That, Mr Carter wrote, “removed our remaining doubts.” Mr Schale said the process is not always so involved. “These are intensely competitive people already,” he said of governors, senators and others in high office. “If you’re wired in that capacity, it’s hard to step away from it.” “Jimmy Carter showed us that you can go from a no-name to president in the span of 18 or 24 months,” said Jared Leopold, a top aide in Washington governor Jay Inslee’s unsuccessful bid for Democrats’ 2020 nomination. “For people deciding whether to get in, it’s a real inspiration,” Mr Leopold continued, “and that’s a real success of American democracy”.Former US president Jimmy Carter dies aged 100Middle East latest: Israeli strikes in Gaza kill more than 50 people, including kids