Free Republic

Billionaire Democrat Michael Bloomberg is putting tens of millions of more dollars behind a new television ad casting himself as uniquely qualified to defeat President Donald Trump. The ad is set to begin running Wednesday in all 50 states, including the first four on the presidential primary calendar. The former New York City mayor, who entered the presidential race less than two weeks ago, launched his White House bid by introducing himself to voters across America in an initial national advertising campaign backed by close to $40 million. The spending behind the new one is being described as consistent with...

Michael Bloomberg on Sunday apologized for his longstanding support of the controversial “stop-and-frisk” police strategy ahead of a potential Democratic presidential run, a practice that he embraced as New York’s mayor and continued to defend despite its disproportionate impact on people of color. Addressing a black church in Brooklyn, Bloomberg said he was “sorry” and acknowledged it often led to the detention of blacks and Latinos. “I can’t change history,” Bloomberg told the congregation. “However today, I want you to know that I realize back then I was wrong.” Bloomberg’s reversal is notable for someone who is often reluctant to...

Forty-three percent of likely voters would back Bloomberg if the election were held today, compared to 37% who would vote for Trump.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had a billionaire in his sights at a campaign rally in Iowa Saturday night — and for once, it wasn’t President Trump. “Tonight we say to Michael Bloomberg, ‘Sorry, you ain’t gonna buy this election,’” Sanders told a crowd in Coralville, outside Iowa City. “ … Those days are gone.” […] Sanders also excoriated Bloomberg for avoiding the earliest states on the primary and caucus calendar and focusing his efforts on the states that hold nominating contests on Super Tuesday and later in 2020. “You’re not going to get elected president by avoiding Iowa, New Hampshire,...

Most presidential candidates launch their campaigns with a rally, or a trip to Iowa or New Hampshire. On Thursday evening, a few hours after aides called The New York Times to say he was really, actually—no, seriously going to do this, Mike Bloomberg tucked in for a small dinner at a French bistro on the Upper East Side of Manhattan where a plate of french fries goes for $10. The next day, he sent a private plane with a few aides aboard to file his paperwork in Alabama. Now, as we enter year 15 of Is he actually going to...

Michael Bloomberg’s official 2020 website unveiled the new campaign’s logo Friday night, but the near universal ridicule it received online was almost perfectly described by Bloomberg’s own tagline: “Owning It Together!”

The best campaign money can buy is already off to a shaky start. A fake 2020 campaign logo and slogan for Michael Bloomberg was spreading like wildfire Saturday. The logo emerged on the website Bloomberg2020.org — which is unaffiliated with the campaign. “No affiliation at all. We will be asking them to make clear they are completely unaffiliated,” longtime Bloomberg confidante Howard Wolfson said in one of more than a half-dozen tweets correcting the record to big-name accounts sharing the fake website. It is unclear who is behind the logo or website, which is also selling Bloomberg 2020 campaign shirts...

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said late Friday that there is "no question" that Michael Bloomberg would be "the No. 1 threat" to President Trump should the former New York City mayor enter the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. "I think the president would be very intimidated by a guy like Michael Bloomberg," Scaramucci told CNN's Chris Cuomo. "He's a New Yorker, he could stand the onslaught of the president's bullying, he's worth probably five to eight times the president's net worth, he could spend a fortune defending himself and getting ads up in all areas of the country."...