Get Excited?
Billionaire and former Mayor of New York City, Mike Bloomberg, is entering the campaign for President. He’s running in the Democratic Primary (at least in Alabama). He says he’s worried about the Democratic “field” and so he’s getting in.
Wow – another old white guy is running for President. And, it’s another billionaire who “knows” how to fix America. That makes three with Styer and of course “the Donald” himself – that is, if “the Donald” is worth that much. He’s another New York businessman who has the answers (that’s two of them) and another New York Mayor who understands “the nation” (that’s one, Bill DeBlasio didn’t get far.)
I know what Bloomberg thinks: the Warren/Sanders wing of the Party is going to get the nomination, and they can’t win the general election. They’ll guarantee that Donald Trump wins another four years. Old Mike’s figured that it’s his patriotic duty to step in, spend a couple of billion dollars, and save the country.
Democratic Nightmare
He is playing to every Democratic nightmare, deep down inside. He thinks that if Democrats don’t nominate a “moderate” that in November the vast number of “independents” will shake their heads, hold their noses, and vote for Trump. And it doesn’t hurt that Bloomberg is seventy-seven; if he ever wants to be President of the United States, and no doubt he does, this is his last shot.
Is it fair? He’s skipping the early debates, taking a pass on Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina; he’s going to jump in beginning on “Super Tuesday,” March 3. Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Democrats Abroad, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia all vote that day. It’s a perfect fit for Bloomberg: he doesn’t have to “personally campaign.” There will be little of the handshaking, coffee shop talking, VFW Hall speaking retail politics of Iowa and New Hampshire. Nope, he can jump in with millions of dollars in media spending, make big speeches, and change all of the equations.
What’s the saying, “all’s fair in love and war,” and you can add politics into that as well. What it does allow Bloomberg to do is miss the “dog” test. The “dog” test – if my dog likes you, I like you. It can happen on the streets of Ottumwa, Iowa, or Concord, New Hampshire; but unless your dog (like mine) watches a lot of TV, they won’t ever meet Bloomberg. And neither will individual voters.
Say it Ain’t So
It’s also saying that Joe Biden ain’t making it, at least according to Bloomberg. It was last January that Bloomberg said that he would stay out if Biden got in. Now Bloomberg is ripping off the bandage on the Democratic campaigns. Joe is a nice guy, but, just like his last Presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008, he isn’t catching on. Biden is standing in as “the option” against Trump, and that isn’t strong enough for Democrats to get behind him.
And that’s the problem Bloomberg isn’t seeing. The Mayor wants to fill the “anti-Trump” role, but Democrats are looking for more than that. They want more than just a return to 2012; they want a future. And Bloomberg, and unfortunately (to me) Biden, don’t represent that.
Add the reality of the Bloomberg record, and it’s hard to see him having a lot of success in the primaries. He was elected as the REPUBLICAN Mayor of New York City. Bloomberg was the Mayor of “Stop and Frisk,” and while that might play well in a Republican process, it isn’t likely to fire up Democrats. Yes, he successfully managed the largest city in the United States. But he didn’t do it in a way that Democratic primary voters are likely to embrace.
The Mayor’s Curse
But it will add to the “curse” of New York. Five mayors or former mayors have run for President. None have gotten even close. The last few, John Lindsey (R), Rudy Giuliani (R), and Bill DeBlasio (D) all looked like they should do well, but found that while they could “make it” in NYC, they didn’t “make it” anywhere else. Mayor Bloomberg may well find the same.
What his presence in the primaries will do is split the “centrist” vote even more and make it even harder for Biden, Buttigieg, Booker or Klobuchar to stay in. Given that Warren and Sanders will split the “left wing” of the party, it looks like Bloomberg’s role will be to extend the Primary process farther into the spring.
So start “…spreading the news:” it’s not “…up to you, New York, New York.”
