Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who is reportedly considering entering the 2020 presidential election as a Democrat, plans on skipping the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada – believing that he would not possess a realistic chance of winning those states due to his late entry into the race.
The Associated Press reported that Bloomberg will instead focus his efforts on trying to dominate the competition in Super Tuesday states and beyond.
The AP reports:
The early states offer just a small percentage of the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. But victories there typically give candidates crucial momentum that helps carry them into bigger states with more delegates on the line.
Bloomberg is calculating that he could build an advantage in those states now with his ability to quickly pour money into staff, television advertising and other campaign operations while other candidates are competing elsewhere.
In a statement, Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson said: “If we run, we are confident we can win in states voting on Super Tuesday and beyond, where we will start on an even footing. But the late timing of our entry means that many candidates already have a big head start in the four early states, where they’ve spent months and months campaigning and spending money.”
Democrat strategist Bill Carrick told the AP that he thinks Bloomberg’s decision to skip the early voting states is a bad idea.
“I don’t think you can just hopscotch around the calendar to suit your own political purposes,” Carrick said. “You skip the early states, you’re going to have a difficult time. I don’t see any evidence that strategy ever works.”
President Donald Trump mocked Bloomberg on Friday while talking to reporters at the White House.
“I’ve known Michael Bloomberg for a long time. If you go back early on, he had – he said a lot of great things about Trump,” Trump said. “But I know Michael. He became just a nothing. He was really a nothing. He’s not going to do well, but I think he’s going to hurt Biden, actually. But he doesn’t have the magic to do well.”
“Little Michael will fail. He’ll spend a lot of money. He’s got some really big issues, he’s got some personal problems, and he’s got a lot of other problems,” Trump continued. “But I know Michael Bloomberg fairly well – not too well, fairly well – well enough. He will not do very well. And if he did, I’d be happy. There is nobody I’d rather run against than Little Michael, that I can tell you.”
Trump has referred to Bloomberg as “Little” for a long time.
In 2016, Trump tweeted: “‘Little Michael Bloomberg, who never had the guts to run for president, knows nothing about me. His last term as Mayor was a disaster!”
“Little” Michael Bloomberg, who never had the guts to run for president, knows nothing about me. His last term as Mayor was a disaster!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016
Trump added, “If Michael Bloomberg ran again for Mayor of New York, he wouldn’t get 10% of the vote – they would run him out of town! #NeverHillary”
If Michael Bloomberg ran again for Mayor of New York, he wouldn’t get 10% of the vote – they would run him out of town! #NeverHillary
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016
Earlier this year, when asked about running for office, Bloomberg suggested that he was too old to do so, and that if he wanted to, he would not be successful “unless I was willing to change all my views and go on what CNN called ‘an apology tour.’”
Democrat presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg in March of this year said that he was *too old* to run for president and that he would not be successful “unless I was willing to change all my views and go on what CNN called ‘an apology tour’” pic.twitter.com/ENu1DMSims
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 7, 2019