Posted on 02/19/2020 9:15:39 AM PST by Kaslin
It’s been a tough week for Mike Bloomberg. As Democrats were going to the polls in New Hampshire last Tuesday, video emerged of the former New York mayor defending his controversial stop, question, and frisk (SQF) policy by saying minority suspects should be thrown against walls. In addition, several stories came out with multiple allegations of sexism. So it’s no surprise that he is now… in second place nationally in a new poll and first in Virginia in another?
If the opposition research dump was meant to halt his rapid rise in the polls over the past two months, it didn’t work. Even though he is not on the ballot in Nevada or South Carolina, he seems poised to have a good Super Tuesday, which has been his plan all along.
Why? Because national polls are about to become relevant. If his 19 percent in the NPR/PBS/Marist poll holds up, Bloomberg has an excellent chance to surpass the 15 percent threshold most states have to get a share of delegates.
So how is Bloomberg surging and can he really win the nomination as a former Republican, former mayor of New York City? There are several reasons to believe that he can indeed. Here a just a few.
The central narrative about the Bloomberg campaign is that the $400 million he has already spent is the main reason for his growth in the polls. While that has clearly played a major role — his ads are ubiquitous — billionaire Democrat candidate Tom Steyer has also spent massive amounts of money and it hasn’t amounted to much. The ads are the equivalent of bringing the voters to water, but it’s Bloomberg who is making them drink.
In terms of his $50 billion fortune, it may be the fortune itself more than the ads it buys driving voters to him. First of all, it shows that he will be able to outspend Trump in a general election, as well as helping Democrat candidates down ballot. But also, the fact that his wealth dwarfs Trump’s may say to Democrats that he can hit Trump where it hurts.
The top concern for most Democratic voters, especially those not already in Bernie Sanders’s ideological camp, is: Who can win the general election? Bloomberg polls better than his rivals one on one against Trump, including in the battleground state of Michigan. But he has also been taking the fight to Trump and Trump has noticed. Their jibes back and forth show he is getting under Trump’s skin, and voters can see that.
In recent months the Bloomberg campaign has been hiring staff at an alarming rate. He offers very high salaries and has promised to pay through November even if he drops out. His hiring appetite has been so voracious that other candidates are struggling to fill their offices. And it’s not just political operatives — Bloomberg owns a media company and has access to all kinds of marketing talent. Already he is using Instagram influencers and other social media stars in a very modern push to sway voters.
One of Bloomberg’s odd political abilities is to tell voters things that they don’t want to hear without turning them off. As a mayoral candidate he was perfectly happy to support unpopular policies on smoking in bars, banning big gulps, limiting salt intake, and a host of other issues. Now past statements about cutting Social Security and reducing health care for the elderly are coming out.
But the positive side of this coin is that voters have never seen him as someone who panders to them. With the possible exception of his recent apology for SQF, he appears to say just what he means.
Bloomberg couldn’t have a bigger target on his body at Wednesday’s debate if he had Lyme disease. He will be attacked by everyone on the stage as an out-of-touch racist billionaire trying to buy the election. But don’t expect Bloomberg to shrink like a violet under the assault.
As mayor, he took on strong government unions in New York over and over and, not for nothing, he won three elections first as a Republican then as an independent in a city that is 5 to 1 Democrat. He is not a figure who backs down.
Bloomberg’s financial support for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a national campaign to fight gun violence founded in 2006, has endeared him to dozens of mayors across the country. He already has the endorsement of 23 mayors, more than any other candidate. This can have a massive impact on get out the vote efforts in those cities. In addition, he is catching up to Joe Biden in overall endorsements that have dried up for the former vice president after his poor performances in the first two contests.
Now, to be clear, Bloomberg not only does not have a single delegate yet, he hasn’t been on a ballot, and won’t be on the next two. He is by no means the new favorite to win, and my colleague John Daniel Davidson makes very solid points about the headwinds he still faces. But this is not the pipe dream it seemed like two months ago.
The failure of the opposition research over the past week to stunt Bloomberg’s growth has been telling. Remember, SQF was a controversial policy when he ran for mayor in 2009 in a city that has high black and Latino populations. In addition, allegations of sexism might be blunted by the fact that he is trying to run against Trump, whom most Democrats also view as sexist.
Bloomberg has a long way to go. In many ways, he has barely even started his run for president. But aside from Sanders, it is hard to argue that any other Democrat in the race has a significantly better chance than he does. That could change fast, but for now, everything seems to be coming up Bloomberg.
Sounds like they are trolling for hits by taking the supposed “middle ground” or hedging their bets
Let us face the fact that no matter what side one aligns to the folks who ride the pine (fence sitters) make money either way by taking this position.
This is a critically different time in our history where the forces amassed against us are global and not just “those of our own house”
Stand and be counted and worry not what others say, a weak mind is easily turned but set your course and follow it through
Choose...
But do so wisely
Trump
Knows
Where all
His skeletons are ! No worries
I will say that what worries me about Bloomberg is that he just might be palpable enough for Never Trumper Republicans (like Kasich and Romney) to support.
I don’t see that possibility with any of the other Rat candidates.
[The Rat Party is certainly going to have a historic race: two white males from a vague “ethnicity” known as Judaism representing what - 1.5% of the American populace? - arguing with each other over who can stomp out the distasteful, evil American nation most effectively.]
In the article provided in that thread there was one woman at a NC campaign stop who showed up at the event who was undecided, but after filling up on the tasty bbq Doomberg had catered in the same woman said she was going to support him. Yeah, the RATs can be bought fairly cheap, and Doomberg has the dough!
The problem for him is that he shielded himself from the campaign up until now. Running nothing but bland and message-less ads about any old random thing.
A candidate needs practice on the stump, and stage, for months before ever being at this point. Just how the hell is he expected to preform after not only not being in the fight, but also that ill-informed shot at Sanders + a mountain of statements that would make him a big no to most leftists?
“First of all, it shows that he will be able to outspend Trump in a general election”
Hillary didn’t lose due to lack of money..in fact she spent more than Trump.
So, spend away!
1. Build It Back program... 90% of applicants got zero aid. It all went to the big names (cronyism), and also seemed to lose hundreds of millions of unaccounted dollars.
2. CityTime program... $80m "just slipped through the cracks" (his own words)
3. Bermuda scandal... he vacationed there while NYC dug out from a particularly bad winter storm.
4. Term Limits... he decided that he was too important to the city during a tough financial period, and so he "persuaded" the City Council to repeal them. NYC voters immediately restored them, but Bloomberg still got to stay in power. (And the Lefties ask if Trump will step down if he loses in NOV. Ahem.)
5. Stop and Frisk program... called racist from the very beginning, and he has both defended and apologized for it in recent weeks.
6. Cathleen Black... a magazine mogul he appointed to lead the largest school system in America. She had zero education or experience in the field. She lasted 96 days. Cronyism is not a word that the Left likes to hear.
7. Elitism... he has denigrated farmers and teachers unions and blacks and women and civil libertarians in past comments revealed in just the past 2 weeks.
8. and worst of all, Mike Bloomberg has never been in office as a Democrat. He was a Republican while he was Mayor of NYC!!! Nothing is more unforgivable to the Left than that!!!
So the party that has RAILED against billionaires buying this nation are going to sell their nomination to someone willing to buy it?
Makes perfect sense....
9. He is another undiplomatic old rich white NYC Republican who is “buying his way into the nomination”, which is supposed to be what they are running against.
2. Who Can Beat Trump?
Other than a rigged election..no one can beat Trump.
Well, thanks to the moronic notion of eternally labelling those people that way, and continually pushing them into that corner, it sure as hell doesn't make it easy for any of them to come back to the fold... and there is no shortage of folks, even on FR, who are eager and ready to attack anyone the moment they do try to reach out. Only Jesus need apply for this "big tent".
By November his dementia will become more prevalent and obvious when he is televised to live audiences.
The Republic was over on Usurpation Day, January 20, 2009 when both parties swore in a man who was not a natural born citizen.
Rumor around DC is that he will ask Mayor Bowser, a black, still-in-the-closet lesbian, to be his running mate. She’s actually not a bad mayor, by the low-bar standards of DC mayors, and is far more reasonable than most Dim presidential candidates, but even she is shy about giving up what she calls “the best job in Washington.”
How much did Bloomberg pay for this article?
TIL, Jews aren't Americans. /s It is always interesting when the anti-Semites crawl out from under their rocks.
Tikun Olam
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