Bloomberg opens offices to compete in primary

Feb. 19, 2020 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter spoke of his friend Michael Bloomberg when opening the campaign office in downtown Springfield.
Reminder Publishing photo by G. Michael Dobbs

SPRINGFIELD – It has been decades since a major presidential candidate has paid as much attention to Massachusetts as former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is focusing on the Bay State.

If the political wisdom is that Massachusetts Democrats will automatically support Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Bloomberg is ignoring it.

Political consultant Anthony Cignoli explained to Reminder Publishing that last time Massachusetts has had such attention was the 1984 presidential campaign and the 1988 campaign during which Gov. Michael Dukakis was the Democratic nominee.

Although in the last primary Sen. Bernie Sanders and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both made appearances in Springfield, Bloomberg’s presence recalls the campaigns of past years when the Massachusetts primary seemed to mean more.

Bloomberg not only opened a Springfield office on Worthington Street last week, but five others in Massachusetts. The expansion into Massachusetts came prior to the New Hampshire primary.  

Reportedly, the billionaire has spent about $300 million so far on his campaign.

Voters in Massachusetts will go to the primary polls as part of Super Tuesday on March 3. The other states that participate on that day include Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado (with caucuses), Georgia, Minnesota (with caucuses), Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia.

More than 50 people attended the opening of the Bloomberg office, with many people coming away from the event holding Bloomberg window or lawn signs, many of which had the message “I Like Mike.”

Bloomberg’s state director George Overstreet said, “The biggest thing on folks’ minds is who can beat Donald Trump. We have to do well and we have to win the nomination.”

Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, one of Bloomberg’s surrogates, spoke at the opening. He spoke of the candidate’s rise from humble beginnings to forming his own business that has made him a billionaire. His interest in solving problems led him to a political career as the mayor of New York City, as well as forming a foundation that has assisted efforts in climate change, public safety and human rights, among other issues, Nutter added.

Nutter explained Bloomberg has built a campaign organization with 125 offices across the country.

Nutter made no appeal to those attending for campaign contributions. He said Bloomberg doesn’t need their money. What he needs, Nutter added, are volunteers for the campaign.

He also revealed Bloomberg will pay for 500 staffers for the final candidate to continue his effort to defeat President Donald Trump if Bloomberg doesn’t receive the nomination.

Nutter asserted Trump “increasingly knows Mike Bloomberg could beat him.” He added, “Donald Trump is actually afraid of Mike Bloomberg.”

New Hampshire results

In the New Hampshire primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders received 25.7 percent, while South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg had 24.4 percent and Sen. Amy Klobuchar had 19.8 percent.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, considered for months to be the front-runner, came in last with 8.4 percent of the vote, while Warren received 9.2 percent.

Some pundits believed that Warren would have done better because of the shared border – and the implied familiarity – that would bring to the New Hampshire race.

On election night, Warren called for greater party unity and a cease-fire among the Democratic candidates. She said in part, “But since we’re here tonight among family and friends, I also want us to be honest with ourselves as Democrats: we might be headed for another one of those long primary fights that lasts for months. We’re two states in, with 55 states and territories to go. We still have 98 percent of the delegates for our nomination up for grabs, and Americans in every part of our country are going to make their voices heard.

“The question for us, Democrats, is whether it will be a long, bitter rehash of the same old divides in our party, or whether we can find another way.         

“Sen. Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg are both great people and either of them would be a far better president than Donald Trump. I respect them both.

“But the fight between factions in our party has taken a sharp turn in recent weeks, with ads mocking other candidates and with supporters of some candidates shouting curses about other Democratic candidates.”

Roger Lau, Warren’s campaign manager sent out a memo to the press about Warren’s results in New Hampshire. He wrote, “After New Hampshire tonight, 98 percent of pledged delegates will still be up for grabs. And as the race consolidates after Super Tuesday, we expect the results to show that Elizabeth Warren is the consensus choice of the widest coalition of Democrats in every corner of the country.

“One key statistic out of Iowa that illustrates the breadth of Warren's appeal: On the second alignment, which shows the choices that voters make as candidates are eliminated, Elizabeth won the most votes in both the bluest county in Iowa and the reddest county in Iowa: Johnson County, which voted 65 percent for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election, and Sioux County, which voted just 12.5 percent for Clinton in 2016.”

He predicted, “Warren is poised to finish in the top two in over half of Super Tuesday states (eight of 14), in the top three in all of them, and is on pace to pick up at-large statewide delegates in all but one.”

Cignoli said that one of the results of the New Hampshire race that struck him was the high number of voters who admitted making up their minds about a candidate only 24 to 48 hours before voting.

He said Warren has pulled her ad buys from two of the next primary states – South Carolina and Nevada – to re-strategize her campaign. He said the Bloomberg campaign is interested in buying whatever TV advertising time other candidates abandon.

The concern among many observers, Cignoli noted, is that Biden and Warren may not have the funds to carry the campaigns past Super Tuesday.

Concerning Gov. Deval Patrick, who entered the race late and left the race after a poor showing in New Hampshire, Cignoli said among some pundits the thought was that Patrick, if he had performed better, was potential vice presidential material for Biden.

Share this: