The Democratic Primary Is A Mess. Michael Bloomberg Is Taking Advantage.

[left-of-center2012]

While the rest of the Democratic field showed up in New Hampshire still unclear about who, exactly, won the Iowa caucuses, Mike Bloomberg was elsewhere. He was in Philadelphia; he was in Providence, Rhode Island; he was in Norfolk, Virginia. This weekend, he’s going to Alabama and Oklahoma.

In light of the morass other Democrats have found themselves in after the app-induced Iowa debacle, in which days passed before it became clear that Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg essentially tied, the primary race is fluid. Iowa didn’t winnow the field as it usually does, and the negative attacks between candidates have started to pick up. But the former mayor of New York City, who only entered the race in November, is simply staying out of the fray — and there are signs his campaign is appealing to voters who are looking for an alternative to a struggling Joe Biden.

“I didn’t make a decision to stay out (of Ithe first four states), I came in too late to get in, so I can’t take credit for that,” Bloomberg told me on Wednesday when I asked him whether the Iowa mess made him feel vindicated about his decision to largely skip the four early states. “There’s plenty of chances, there’s lots of elections coming up in every other state. There’s still 46 states to hear from, and that’s where I’m gonna compete.”

“After more than a year of this, the field is as unsettled as ever,” Bloomberg spokesperson Galia Slayen said in a statement this week. “No one has made the sale or even come close to it.”

There’s no other campaign quite like Bloomberg’s. First, there’s its sheer size; the campaign announced this week it plans to soon swell to 2,000 staffers. Then, there’s its unusual strategy: Instead of flooding states that vote early in the primary calendar in the hope of capturing momentum, Bloomberg is targeting states that vote later, many of which offer many more delegates up for grabs than Iowa or New Hampshire do. And he’s running as though in some ways he’s already the nominee, hardly mentioning his primary opponents and casting himself as the “un-Trump.”

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosiegray/michael-bloomberg-2020-democratic-primary-biden

[Squinch]

1. He seems to be able to add up delegates better than the rest of our candidates.

The primary is a math problem: how do you get the most delegates? It's weird that he's the only one who has figured out that you don't do it by engaging in dog fights to claim victory in states with miniscule numbers of delegates.

[Mr.Bill]

2. It also doesn't hurt

that he's filthy rich. No other candidate has the money to do what he is doing.

[2naSalit]

3. that's nice...

[left-of-center2012]

4. Better the 'circular firing squad' and mud slinging

Right ?

[2naSalit]

6. Perhaps we don't share

the same perception of primaries and our current candidates and what will be required of them after this popularity parade.

I have some serious objections to a number of candidates including the two billionaires in the race. I don't care to announce them all here as they are detailed and I think private.

What I will say is...

There were too many candidates at the beginning, I thought, and the excess number sucked too much of a finite amount of oxygen from more interesting and more qualified candidates who have dropped out before he first selection event. And it was all because of money. I also don't see Bloomberg with very long coattails like we need right now to take the Senate back.

And that bothers me.

Speaking of money in elections, which is 90% of our election problem in the first place. Money always brings cheating into the picture... cheating which is covered up by money and favors. We have that on steroids in DC right now as we can all see. I don't think that being rich and having a positive IQ is enough for what we require to stop the hemorrhaging of our rights and accountability and begin healing as a country. I see a position for Bloomberg in the next admin but I don't want another white guy with too much money and some cultural ideas that I can't abide or accept as president.

If he wants to spend his money as he has pledged to and use his ads to smother the air time in all markets, I would rather he do it to lend support to a more qualified candidate.

We all have to fight this fight from this side, all of us on this one side, or we're done, all of us. I don't see the leadership and decision making skills to the degree I think we need right now in any of the men on or off the stage. I see all of them as qualified in a normal environment but we don't have that right now so I am thinking that I will vote for one of the women.

I also think everyone started campaigning far too early leaving many people, who just want to live their lives for a little while for chrissakes, with election fatigue. I see it around my area. It's what turns people off to the political environment they should have more respect for, that needs to be addressed, though I think the current events have peeled millions of scales from eyes of voters.

What happens matters not just to the country but every living thing on the planet, and it's up to We the People as to how that turns out.

[ancianita]

7. +1

[Garrett78]

5. I'm pretty sure they all understand that winning requires a majority of pledged delegates.

As Bloomberg himself said, this wasn't a strategy on his part. He simply entered the race too late.

Personally, I can't see Bloomberg winning a majority of pledged delegates no matter how much he spends.