Coughing up $100 million, a drop in the bucket of his $54.9 billion fortune, 78-year-old former New York Major and Democrat presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, vowed to do everything possible to defeat 74-year-old President Donald Trump. Bloomberg plans to direct funds to the all-important battleground state of Florida with its 29 electoral votes. With 77-year-old former Vice President Joe Biden raising $364 million in August, he could break former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s $768 million by the time Nov. 3 rolls around. Bloomberg hopes spending $100 million on Biden pays off more than one billion of his own cash he spent on Democrat race, dropping out after Super Tuesday, March 4, when Biden secured the nomination. One thing Bloomberg proved in his presidential race is that money can’t buy any presidential candidate the White House, no matter how much cash is spent.
Bloomberg’s not the first billionaire to run for president, after Texas oil-man H.Ross Perot ran for president as an independent in 1992, handing the race to President Bill Clinton, depriving President George H.W. Bush a second term. All the hype about Bloomberg tossing $100 million toward Biden guarantees nothing, other that running more campaign ads on TV, social media and the Internet. “Mike Bloomberg is an impact player,” said former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who served as co-chair of Bloomberg’s presidential campaign. Nutter claims Bloomberg is a number-cruncher, an analytics guy, looking at where he could make a difference. Well how did that work out for Bloomberg spending one billion of his own cash to look good in video but fell completely apart when voters watched him in the debates? Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) took Bloomberg apart in the Feb. 20 debate in Las Vegas.
Trump found out in 2016 that recklessly spending more cash doesn’t guarantee victory in presidential politics. Bloomberg’s decision to pony up $100 million in Florida puts the Trump campaign under more pressure to spend more in Florida but offers no guarantees. “It’s pretty important for the democracy if Biden does win for us to be able to call Florida on election night,” said Kevin Sheekey, long-time Bloomberg adviser. Bloomberg’s advisers didn’t do too well for Mike when he spent a billion on a campaign that flamed out as soon as Sen. Elizabeth Warrant (D-Mass.) hit Bloomberg where it hurt. Democrats know that Bloomberg is anything but a Democrat, whose own presidential campaign got no real traction because his pre-packaged videotaped message didn’t jibe with what voters saw when he opened in mouth on the debate stage, exposing his weakness, embarrassing himself.
Democrats only common ground with Bloomberg was his abiding hatred of Trump, something on which both agree. Everyone in the media establishment loved Bloomberg’s cash, despite taking his money and delivering next-to-nothing. Bloomberg received a lot of criticism for shutting down his campaign, after promising to keep his campaign staff employed through the November election. “The guy has an ego as large as anybody’s. It took him a while to he his feelings un-bruised,” said John Morgan, a democrat fundraiser in Florida, looking forward to Bloomberg’s help in Sunshine State. Bloomberg’s well versed in anti-Trump advertising, spending $275 million Bloomberg already spent $500,000 in Florida on Voto Latino to register Hispanic voters in South Florida. Whether Democrats admit it or not, Bloomberg’s been in 2020 one of the biggest Democrat donors.
Bloomberg’s prodigious expenditure to unseat Trump have been well noted, spending $2 million on black voter registration and another $2 million of voters swinging to the left. Spending $60 million Gun Safety and another $11.4 million to House Majority PAC, a group helping Democrat House members retain their seats and expand the House’s Democrat majority. How Bloomberg was ever a Republican let alone an independent is anyone’s guess. Based on how he spends his money, he’s all in trying to get more Democrats elected to the House and Senate. If there were ever a Republican turncoat, it’s certainly Bloomberg, showing that he’s really motivated to defeat Trump. “There are a lot of things under consideration right now, “ Nutter said, when it comes to Bloomberg’s efforts to get rid of Trump and Senate Republicans. Nutter foresees Blooomberg spending most in Florida on TV and internet ads.
Bloomberg spending $100 million to help Biden shows the desperation of Democrats looking at shrinking polls, where Joe’s once invincible lead has suddenly vanished less than two month before the election. Democrats acted like the election was in the bag, saying that Trump would drop out before Election Day because he was losing so badly. Biden has followed his strategists to the T, blasting Trump for mismanaging the coronavirus crisis. Biden actually blamed Trump for the nearly 200,000 deaths in the U.S., mirroring the kind of desperation seeping into his campaign. Without any appealing domestic or foreign policy proposals, he’s run his campaign going after Trump because it seemed to work. Now that it’s backfiring, the clock is ticking on how Biden’s going to turn things around. When Joe debates Trump Sept. 29, the election could hang in the balance.
