Posted on 03/07/2020 10:08:49 AM PST by EyesOfTX
The leftist publication The Nation often publishes very interesting analysis pieces. One such piece ran on Friday. Titled This Was a Grift: Bloomberg Staffers Explain Campaigns Demise, the piece written by Ken Klippenstein makes for some very fascinating reading.
Klippenstein had access to several Bloomberg staffers who confirm the thesis that I laid out in the Campaign Update of February 22: That Bloombergs decision to enter the Las Vegas debate despite the fact he was not participating in the Nevada Caucuses was a strategic blunder that ultimately proved fatal.
Klippenstein not only traces the implosion of Mini-Mikes failed effort to that debate, but to the moment when Elizabeth Warren slammed his very poor and public record of dealing with female employees:
according to nearly a dozen members of his campaign staff, the former New York City mayors presidential dreams really died when Elizabeth Warren eviscerated his record on live television during the February 19 debate in Las Vegas.
Not a single Bloomberg staffer that I spoke to was surprised by the campaigns implosion. Speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisal and because of the campaigns nondisclosure agreementswhich The Nation obtained a leaked copy of in Februarycampaign employees cited that bruising debate as well as a general lack of enthusiasm for Bloomberg among the staff as main factors ending his presidential run.
Ever since the first debate all of us faced a ton of hostility [when knocking on] doors and could hardly get any volunteers, one field organizer told me. I once had a woman chase me back to my car demanding that I say you cant buy the presidency.
[End]
Now, heres part of what I wrote in that Feb. 22 piece:
Using the RCP aggregate of betting odds as a primary gauge, the disastrous debate showing by Mr. Excitement, Mike Bloomberg, last Wednesday is going to have a major negative impact on his polling numbers and, by extension, on his ability to accumulate votes and maybe even win a state or two in the March 3 Super Tuesday primaries.
Just nine days ago, The Commie held a shaky 5-point lead over Mini-Mike in this important gauge of public sentiment, with Sanders pulling in 39% of the money being bet and Mr. Excitement 34%. That Commie lead began to expand, though, as video after video began to surface of Mini-Mike making horrific public statements offending all manner of traditional Democrat interest groups. By the time debate day came around, the Sanders lead had grown to 17 points.
In the three days since Bloombergs Vegas Waterloo, the bottom has dropped out. The Commies support has jumped up over 50% for the first time, while Mr. Excitement has crashed down to 22%. It is very likely that that near-30% gap between the two will only expand after Sanders scores what is going to be a big winning margin in the Nevada caucuses.
Before that debate took place, Mini-Mike had actually moved into slight polling leads in both Oklahoma and Arkansas, and was becoming competitive in a couple of the other Super Tuesday states, based solely on the strength of $300 million spent on TV and social media ads. In polling released over the next 7-10 days, we will likely see those leads go poof!, as the impacts of his debate catastrophe begin to show up in the polling data.
I told you on Wednesday morning that there was no possible benefit for Bloomberg to appear in that debate: He wasnt even on the ballot in Nevada why take the risk of having exactly the horrific debate performance he in fact had? And there was no way this near-terminally boring old man who hadnt participated in a debate setting in a dozen years was going to have a good night against a pack of desperate animals who have been doing nothing but debating and running their mouths for almost a damn year now.
[End]
Back to Klippensteins piece in The Nation:
Several members of the campaign described Bloombergs debate as the beginning of the end. As another field organizer put it, The people who liked Mike initially didnt care about the sexual [harassment] allegations or stop and frisk, but they got turned off because they thought he made himself look weak and that he had let Warren walk all over him.
A third staffer also said that the debate marked a turning point, after which phone calls with voters became more difficult. The day after [the debate] when we made calls people were like, Oh yeah, I was thinking about him [Bloomberg], but Im not really sure anymore.
Bloombergs performance, specifically his handling of Warrens questions, even alienated the campaigns volunteers. Of the volunteers that quit, one campaign employee told me, Just about every one of them said it was because of the debate performance or the NDA scandals.
[End]
Klippensteins piece also goes into detail about how Bloomberg staffers, seeing the handwriting of Bloombergs impending doom clearly written on the wall, actually used Mini-Mikes tons of money to actively campaign for Sanders and other Democrat candidates leading up to Super Tuesday. Its a fascinating piece that everyone should go read. Warning: youll have to spend $1 for a 24-hour access to The Nations website to do it, but I found it well worth the price.
That is all.
I’m sure they’ll miss the money and food but it’s obvious those working on Bloomberg’s campaign hated his guts just like the rest of us.
So as long as Bloomberg stayed in the Oval Office behind his desk and never came out to speak to anyone, including other world leaders, he would have been a terrific President.
Got it.
In his prior VP debates, Biden relied on ham-fisted aggression. It remains to be seen if Biden still has the energy for aggression — scintillating rhetoric and intelligent argument are obviously out. Bernie can play the angry leftist goon, but can he take a punch?
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