By Dan Murphy
Former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s run for president in 2020 continues to slowly build momentum and pick up support. Bloomberg is not only spending his fortune (which he makes sure that all who are listening know was accumulated because of his business acumen and not through any inheritance) on political ads, but on campaign offices in the key swing states that will decide this election, like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Bloomberg is not taking the traditional route to win the presidency, by skipping the first four democratic presidential primaries where all nominees have come from in the past – Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Instead, he is putting his money, and his campaign, into the Super Tuesday states, which are 14 states that have a large block of delegates all to be decided March 3, including California and Texas.
And, so far, Bloomberg has used his “seed money” of $100 million-plus to inform voters across the country about who he is and what he cares about – fighting against the NRA and in support of common-sense gun control laws, supporting environmental efforts to combat climate change, his record as mayor of New York City (which all of us in Westchester know and appreciate), and most of all, his desire to remove Donald Trump from the presidency.
So far, the investment has paid off, with a recent poll showing Bloomberg moving up from 5 to 11 percent. The Hill-Harris survey has Bloomberg tied with Sen. Elizabeth Warren for third place, with Joe Biden (26 percent) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (17 percent) leading the pack.
Despite the initial opposition from some progressive democrats against a “Bloomberg for President” campaign, some democratic pundits are taking notice. Iona Professor Jeanne Zaino recently penned a column with the headline “Warning to Trump: Bloomberg is your biggest re-election threat.”
“Don’t let the polls fool you. Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg represents a greater threat to President Trump’s re-election than any other candidate out there. No one… has the ability, resources, data and know-how to disrupt the president’s re-election bid the way Bloomberg does. And he has proven this already.
“In December, Trump became only the third president in history to be impeached… It was the result of the careful planning and meticulous efforts of Bloomberg,” writes Zaino, who reminds democrats that Bloomberg used his resources to spend more than $100 million in 2018 to help elect 21 democrats and help flip the House of Representatives to the democrats, making Nancy Pelosi speaker and giving her the votes to move forward with impeachment.
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said” ‘Bloomberg’s money went a long way. He defeated a lot of people by writing those $5 million checks.’ And Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon said, ‘Trump wouldn’t be impeached if it were not for Bloomberg.’
“Unlike the other Democrats in the race, his primary goal is to remove Trump. This is what motivated his spending in 2018 and what continues to animate his campaign today. While the rest of the field defines winning as securing the nomination, Bloomberg defines it as defeating Trump – whether he is the one to do it or not. This singular focus explains almost every aspect of his unorthodox campaign and what makes him more dangerous than anyone else.”
Why did Bloomberg decide to run?
“It was polls, like one of voters in swing states released late last year, which showed Trump ‘remains highly competitive in the battleground states likeliest to decide his re-election… The next president will be decided in a few swing states: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Arizona and Wisconsin primary among them,” writes Zaino. “And despite low approval ratings overall, polls of these states show Trump is winning.
“Three other factors, impeachment, a focus on Iowa and New Hampshire, and allowing Trump to target voters in the swing states while the democratic presidential candidates do nothing, all move Bloomberg to run.
“As Democrats spend their time, resources, and money in states that will not matter come next November, Trump has amassed an impressive war chest and is using it to blanket the states that do… Bloomberg got into the race first and foremost to quell what the data show is Trump’s rise and the source of his strength in the swing states. If the former mayor wins along the way, all the better. But make no mistake, Bloomberg’s primary goal is to weaken and ultimately remove Trump, and his unconventional campaign has already taken several important steps in that direction.
“First, Bloomberg is the only candidate running a national campaign,” continues Zaino. “While every other Democrat is focused on the early states, he is spending his time and money in states that will decide the general election… He has not been willing to let the president have control of the airwaves and be in charge of the messages sent to voters for months on end, in places like Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania.
“Second, Bloomberg is not just campaigning to secure the nomination for himself, he is campaigning against Trump. If Trump goes down in defeat it will be because he is beaten in the swing states. And it is those states that Bloomberg is targeting with massive amounts of anti-Trump advertising. According to a report out on Christmas Day, in just three weeks he has spent an astonishing $120 million on television and digital advertising.
“Third, we learned that last spring and with little fanfare, Bloomberg started a digital business called Hawkfish. The company is seen as a key step in his quest to build a data and voter targeting operation that can rival Trump’s… More than anything else it was Trump’s far superior voter targeting and data operation that catapulted him into the White House.
“Finally, Bloomberg continues to invest significant amounts of his personal fortune, as he has for years, in causes that he cares about; many of which matter to moderate, suburban and independent voters. He has coupled this with critical investments in voter registration efforts in swing states and millions of dollars targeted to support vulnerable Democratic candidates in districts Trump won in 2016.
“Democrats may not want to accept or believe it, but as of today the data look good for a Trump re-election. It’s not just the swing-state polls, but the fact that historically, incumbent presidents with a good economy have a strong chance of winning. Trump is no exception. It will take a major disruptive force to upend those odds. So far, only Bloomberg has the demonstrated ability, foresight, resources, infrastructure and plan to do it,” writes Zaino, who is a professor of political science and international studies at Iona College and senior advisor at AppliedTechonomics, Public Sector. Follow her on Twitter @JeanneZaino.
Another democrat writer, liberal analyst Cathy Areu, writes that “Bloomberg is the candidate Trump said he was in 2016,” and that “Bloomberg is not bought and paid for.”
“Democrats should stop whining about wine caves – Here’s how to get money to beat Trump… Is there anyone who could actually pass the unrealistic ‘purity’ test of not needing to raise millions of dollars from outsiders to run for the presidency? Is there anyone who doesn’t need a Napa Valley wine cave?
“The answer is: Yes. Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg… Both Republicans and Democrats want an honest candidate who answers to no one. Both sides want someone who is not bought and paid for by anyone. All of us want the only self-funded candidate running for office. So everyone wants Mike Bloomberg!
“Everyone has set the bar so high that they might as well pack up their campaigns and go home now because Bloomberg is the only candidate who doesn’t need anyone’s money. He’s the candidate who all others wish they could be.
“And at the end of the day, I think this fact is making Trump nervous. Very nervous. Bloomberg is the one candidate Trump knows he can’t beat. Bloomberg is the man Trump told us he was: a self-made billionaire who knows the ‘art of the deal.’
“Bloomberg is the candidate Trump said he was in 2016, when he won the presidency. But here’s the truth: Trump was born into wealth
“I’m thankful all of us learned what a fundraiser in a cave is, and the evil that presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders say it represents. Because now all American voters know the truth: all politicians running in the 2020 election (even a sitting president holding rallies to raise money) are bought and paid for. All except for one.
“In 2020, voters finally have the candidate Trump told them they deserve. And that candidate is the winner of the last debate: Mike Bloomberg,” writes Areu, who provides liberal analysis on Fox News and is the host of the podcast “Liberal Sherpa.”
New Yorkers will vote in the Democratic primary April 28, when several northeast states will also hold their primaries, including Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
