Billionaire and former Mayor of New York City, Mike Bloomberg, is entering the campaign for President. He\u2019s running in the Democratic Primary (at least in Alabama). He says he\u2019s worried about the Democratic \u201cfield\u201d and so he\u2019s getting in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wow \u2013 another old white guy is running for President. And, it\u2019s another billionaire who \u201cknows\u201d how to fix America. That makes three with Styer and of course \u201cthe Donald\u201d himself \u2013 that is, if \u201cthe Donald\u201d is worth that much. He\u2019s another New York businessman who has the answers (that\u2019s two of them) and another New York Mayor who understands \u201cthe nation\u201d (that\u2019s one, Bill DeBlasio didn\u2019t get far.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know what Bloomberg thinks: the Warren\/Sanders wing of the Party is going to get the nomination, and they can\u2019t win the general election. They\u2019ll guarantee that Donald Trump wins another four years. Old Mike\u2019s figured that it\u2019s his patriotic duty to step in, spend a couple of billion dollars, and save the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is playing to every Democratic nightmare, deep down inside. He thinks that if Democrats don\u2019t nominate a \u201cmoderate\u201d that in November the vast number of \u201cindependents\u201d will shake their heads, hold their noses, and vote for Trump. And it doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it fair? He\u2019s skipping the early debates, taking a pass on Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina; he\u2019s going to jump in beginning on \u201cSuper Tuesday,\u201d 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\u2019s a perfect fit for Bloomberg: he doesn\u2019t have to \u201cpersonally campaign.\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s the saying, \u201call\u2019s fair in love and war,\u201d and you can add politics into that as well. What it does allow Bloomberg to do is miss the \u201cdog\u201d test. The \u201cdog\u201d test \u2013 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\u2019t ever meet Bloomberg. And neither will individual voters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s also saying that Joe Biden ain\u2019t 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\u2019t catching on. Biden is standing in as \u201cthe option\u201d against Trump, and that isn\u2019t strong enough for Democrats to get behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s the problem Bloomberg isn\u2019t seeing. The Mayor wants to fill the \u201canti-Trump\u201d 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\u2019t represent that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Add the reality of the Bloomberg record, and it\u2019s 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 \u201cStop and Frisk,\u201d and while that might play well in a Republican process, it isn\u2019t likely to fire up Democrats. Yes, he successfully managed the largest city in the United States. But he didn\u2019t do it in a way that Democratic primary voters are likely to embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it will add to the \u201ccurse\u201d 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 \u201cmake it\u201d in NYC, they didn\u2019t \u201cmake it\u201d anywhere else. Mayor Bloomberg may well find the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What his presence in the primaries will do is split the \u201ccentrist\u201d 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 \u201cleft wing\u201d of the party, it looks like Bloomberg\u2019s role will be to extend the Primary process farther into the spring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So start \u201c\u2026spreading the news:\u201d it\u2019s not \u201c\u2026up to you, New York, New York.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"