Bloomberg enters presidential horse race but does It change anything?

Let’s face it, the former Mayor of the ‘Big-Apple’, Michael Bloomberg is rich. He is not just rich — he’s extremely wealthy.

Maybe that is not even the correct adjective to describe Bloomberg’s financial status, maybe ‘Uber-Rich’ would be better. This guy is so loaded; he could write checks for President Trump, Mark Cuban (tech billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team), and several others out of petty cash. Estimates are that he is worth some $52-Billion. 

One thing is for certain, the days of “the average American” running for public office might be over. We are rapidly approaching the point whereby “the average American” is being replaced by the “the average American Billionaire” who can for all intents and purposes “purchase” an election. The fact is, it won’t be long before we see the young techy moguls (Cubin, Zuckerberg, etc.) campaigning. 

Say, Goodnight Joe, Kamala, Tulsi, and Gang.

For much of the Democrat field, having Mayor Bloomberg enter the race just sucked all of the oxygen out of the room. This is said for several reasons. The first being, Michael Bloomberg more than likely has a higher name ID than Julian Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Michael Bennet, and a half-dozen more in this crowded field. The second reason is; (and I have not yet researched this) he can afford to purchase a top-flight campaign team with one phone call. Where most campaigns are forced to “slowly” staff up based upon campaign contributions, Bloomberg can do pretty much what Donald Trump did and just flip a switch and “presto” he is up and running. Lastly, where most campaigns purchase 30-second commercials, Bloomberg can purchase the entire network if he so desires to do so. 

For the next two weeks, all we will hear about is the Michael Bloomberg campaign. Where he is going on his private Gulfstream jet, which states will he campaign in, his advertisements, and much more. He will be on every talk show, every night time show, every morning show, and likely even a Hallmark Christmas movie. What this will effectively do is to dramatically slow down the fundraising for many of the other candidates. This will most likely cripple their campaigns as most are on a very tight budget to begin with. 

It is no secret that Joe Biden has been having fundraising issues as of late. Senator Kamala Harris is not exactly flush with cash either. Neither is Amy Klobuchar, Castro, Gabbard, and even Bernie is not as campaign wealthy as he used to be. 

Bloomberg Could Be Dangerous.

Many will call Mayor Bloomberg a Democrat, some will call him a liberal Republican, and most will not have a clue what he is. One can make the argument that he doesn’t even know what to call himself. 

Prior to his becoming Mayor of New York City, Bloomberg had been a Democrat for the better part of his life. While campaigning for Mayor, he switched to the Republican Party. After having served for 12-years (the longest-serving Mayor in the cities history), he turned back in 2013 to the Democrat Party.  

While most of us on the “Right-Side-of-the-Aisle” will poke fun at Michael Bloomberg and his efforts to help us to lose weight by taxing soft-drinks, he did, in fact, have a very successful record of getting the Big Apples fiscal house in order. He did give raises to city employees, and he did balance the cities budgets. He did manage to leave a city running smoothly to De Blasio (who has managed to screw it all up). 

Bloomberg’s record in New York City will likely be one of his primary campaign themes in that he knows how to manage a significant economic situation and make it viable for everyone to prosper. 

Bloomberg will appeal to the far left with his strong position on guns. He is not a fan of them and will likely score an “F” with the NRA. He is pro-choice, and he is liberal when it comes to social issues such as the LGBTQ agenda. You can read about his political positions on his Wikipedia page.

The big political question mark is; Is Michael Bloomberg already screwing up his campaign. He has announced that he is going to bypass Iowa and New Hampshire and head straight into the Super-Tuesday states. As of yet, nobody has ever been successful in trying this approach.

If Bloomberg truly wants to make this a horse race, then he should hire a massive staff to begin working the states of Iowa and New Hampshire and at least make an attempt to have a decent showing in these states. By ignoring them, he is effectively saying that he doesn’t care, and this does, in fact, send a message to the rest of the nation. Dumping $5 or 10-million into Iowa and New Hampshire would show that he actually wants to be President of all the people, not just the strategically beneficial people. 

What Will the Debate Stage Look Like?

Having Bloomberg enter this race will no doubt blow out many of the Democrats from the campaign. There is no question that Michael Bloomberg is the 200-pound gorilla in the room. There is also little doubt that when you have someone worth over $50-billion debating your socialism policies on stage, he is going to make you look like an idiot when he begins explaining the economics of the situation. Elizabeth Warren has already come out and tried to paint Bloomberg as some sort of political carpetbagger by entering the race so late and the fact that he is so wealthy. I don’t blame her, and he is about to make her look more like the loon that she actually is.

If Bloomberg does win the nomination, he could pose a very significant problem for the President for these reasons:

• He knows where all the skeletons in New York City are buried. 
• He will attempt to paint the President as a Con-Artist.
• He (and this is the big one) will attract the entire Democrat party (which number more than Republicans) to the polling booth. PLUS; he will garner those Republicans who are disgruntled with the President. 
•  Bloomberg will run as a Democrat Centrist, and that will likely be the ticket to victory. 

Do not, do not, do not, underestimate Michael Bloomberg entering this race as a joke. He is rich, he is articulate, and he knows how to win. Bloomberg could be a massive problem for President Trump’s winning re-election.

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By Ken Crow