The spectacular failure of Michael Bloomberg’s $500 million presidential campaign
Everyone was terrified of Michael Bloomberg. Then, in the course of 60 seconds, his lavishly funded presidential campaign was blown apart.
“We have done something no one thought was possible,” Michael Bloomberg told his supporters yesterday, as the results from Super Tuesday rolled in.
He was right. No one thought it was possible to spend half a billion dollars on a presidential campaign without winning a single state. And yet, here we are.
After all the hype, a late entry into the race, the most expensive self-funded ad blitz in America’s political history and one of the most torturous minutes ever witnessed on a debate stage, Mr Bloomberg faceplanted on Super Tuesday.
His only success came in the tiny territory of American Samoa, which he won with a whopping total of 175 votes. Elsewhere, he was mostly a distant third behind former vice president Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders.
RELATED: Joe Biden dominates results on Super Tuesday
So, today Mr Bloomberg made the only sane decision available to him and quit the race, throwing his support behind Mr Biden.
“Three months ago, I entered the race for president to defeat Donald Trump. Today, I am leaving the race for the same reason,” he said.
“It is clear to me that staying in would make achieving the goal more difficult.
“I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it, and after yesterday’s vote it is clear that candidate is my friend, and a great American, Joe Biden.”
RELATED: Bloomberg quits hugely expensive presidential campaign
What an ironic conclusion to his campaign.
Mr Bloomberg’s entire rationale for running in the first place was his judgment that Mr Biden was too feeble a candidate to beat Mr Trump.
Now he’s getting out because he himself is too feeble to beat Mr Biden.
It’s certainly not due to a lack of resources. According to NPR, Mr Bloomberg poured a $US500 million ($A750 million) chunk of his $60 billion ($A90 billion) fortune into his campaign, including more than $US200 million ($A300 million) on advertising in Super Tuesday states.
The Washington Post has broken it down state-by-state, and the numbers are no less staggering.
Mr Bloomberg spent $US52 million ($A78 million) on ads in Texas; $US74 million ($A111 million) in California; $US12 million ($A18 million) in Massachusetts; $US9 million ($A13 million) in Alabama; $US13 million ($A19 million) in Minnesota; $US8 million ($A12 million) in Tennessee; $US15 million ($A22 million) in North Carolina; $US7 million ($A10 million) in Vermont.
We could keep going, but you get the point.
He lost one of those states, California, to Mr Sanders, and the rest to Mr Biden, who hardly spent anything at all because he barely had any money.
“The idea that we’re sitting here tonight, he’s won Minnesota, he’s won Massachusetts, with no money. I cannot stress this point. No staff, really. No money,” former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, an incredulous Biden supporter, said yesterday.
“In Virginia, not a single television ad was purchased by the Biden campaign. Zero TV ads. Nothing.”
Mr Biden’s astonishing Super Tuesday surge is the ultimate proof that money, while important, is not everything in politics.
The smouldering wreck of Mr Bloomberg’s campaign proves something similar – that money, on its own, will never be sufficient.
Perhaps that sounds like a trite point. But for a long time, it really did seem as though Mr Bloomberg’s money might be enough.
Aside from all the ads, it bought him breathless media coverage, a huge ground staff, dozens of endorsements from Democratic politicians, an unparalleled data operation and a nice surge in the polls.
Most significantly, it let him claim a place in the top tier of Democratic presidential candidates without any of the scrutiny his rivals had faced.
Mr Bloomberg skipped the first four states – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. For months, he avoided televised interviews and town halls. He didn’t appear on a debate stage until midway through last month.
Nevertheless, he continued to rise in the polls, leading other candidates to warn he was “buying” the election.
Of course, when he did finally front the cameras at the Nevada debate, Mr Bloomberg promptly imploded.
RELATED: Elizabeth Warren destroys Bloomberg at Nevada debate
Time after time, he faced entirely predictable questions about his record, both as mayor of New York and as a businessman. And without fail, he flubbed the answers.
Elizabeth Warren was his chief tormentor. She repeatedly grilled Mr Bloomberg on his history of sexist comments and alleged sexual harassment of female employees.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against. A billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians’. And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” she said.
Asked about the harassment allegations a few minutes later, Mr Bloomberg responded bizarrely, reeling off a list of women he had employed in prominent positions.
“I hope you heard what his defence was. ‘I’ve been nice to some women,’” Ms Warren interjected.
She brought up the unknown number of nondisclosure agreements women had signed with Mr Bloomberg’s company over the years.
“Mr Mayor, are you willing to release all those women from those nondisclosure agreements so we can hear their side of the story?” Ms Warren asked.
Mr Bloomberg refused. He babbled about most of the women in question “maybe not liking a joke” he’d told, and drew audible groans from the crowd when he insisted all the nondisclosure agreements were “consensual”.
She asked how many agreements there were. He wouldn’t say.
The whole exchange was brutal. Ms Warren essentially destroyed Mr Bloomberg’s chances of winning the nomination, singled-handed, in about 60 seconds. She made him look like a fool.
No amount of money could have saved him. And if you’re worried about the influence of billionaires in politics, that can only be considered good news.
We should note that Mr Bloomberg isn’t done spending yet. He has pledged to support the Democratic nominee, whoever that ends up being, in the general election against Mr Trump.
That means funnelling even more of his own money into campaign ads. It could also mean redirecting his massive staff of about 2000 people, along with his sophisticated data operation, in service to the broader Democratic effort.
In other words, Mr Bloomberg remains a significant threat to Mr Trump, which perhaps explains why the President is so keen to revel in his humiliation.
Mr Trump has spent the last 24 hours gloating about the Super Tuesday results and ridiculing Mr Bloomberg for throwing “$700 million down the drain”.
The biggest loser tonight, by far, is Mini Mike Bloomberg. His “political†consultants took him for a ride. $700 million washed down the drain, and he got nothing for it but the nickname Mini Mike, and the complete destruction of his reputation. Way to go Mike!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Mini Mike Bloomberg just “quit†the race for President. I could have told him long ago that he didn’t have what it takes, and he would have saved himself a billion dollars, the real cost. Now he will pour money into Sleepy Joe’s campaign, hoping to save face. It won’t work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Mini Mike Bloomberg will now FIRE Tim O’Brien, and all of the fools and truly dumb people who got him into this MESS. This has been the worst, and most embarrassing, experience of his life...and now on to Sleepy Joe!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Mini Mike, “Three months ago I entered the race for President to defeat Donald Trump, (and I failed miserably!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Pandering Mini Mike Bloomberg, along with his wacky friend, Tom Steyer, have found out the hard way that you can’t buy the election! They both wish they had it to do over again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
In true Trumpian fashion, the President’s numbers are exaggerated – he’s added an extra $US200 million to the cost of Mr Bloomberg’s campaign for no apparent reason.
But half a billion dollars is already an embarrassing amount of money to blow on a failed vanity project.
Luckily for Mr Bloomberg, he still has plenty left.
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