By: Romy Ronen
Michael Bloomberg isn’t your average candidate in this presidential campaign. Michael Bloomberg does not care about the size of his crowd, even if it’s a crowd of only 38 supporters. Michael Bloomberg isn’t here for a win: he’s here for a change.
This week in Denver, New York Billionaire Bloomberg revealed his intricate plan to end gun violence. The plan, in its current form, aims to recreate the rules of presidential politics, investing millions of dollars on his own presidency. Instead of fighting gun violence face on, he plans to work backwards. He has a goal and he knows how to accomplish it with his own resources.
Many have speculations about Bloomberg’s run, its intentions, its purpose. But the facts are as follows: Bloomberg has been hosting very small and private gatherings, ignoring the early voting states. He is ignoring the first four states on the calendar: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, ultimately placing bets on the 25 states that will hold contests in the spring. He reaches out to millions of voters in the nation with a huge advertising campaign that’s taking over local television in every state, every day. This campaign will cost $1 billion dollars, and he has already spent more than $50 million dollars on advertisements over the first two weeks of his campaign. A bang for his buck.
Dan Kanninen, who now works and supports Bloomberg’s strategy, says: “We will have more people and be challenging and competing in more states at the same time than anyone ever has. Most people think about this race as a series of consecutive contests. We think about this race as a conversation with the American people everywhere at once.”
Other candidates, like Sanders and Warren, have exclaimed that he is attempting to buy this election. Even some voters are worried that this strategy does not align with his values. Dawn Reinfeld, a gun-control activist, stated: “Personally, it gives me pause. I don’t like it when a candidate self funds their campaign. But I’m willing to wait and see. We wouldn’t be where we are without him.”
And it is true that they wouldn’t be there without him. Because even if he uses his own resources to further a belief, an ideal, does that automatically change his values? It seems that Sanders and Warren can’t see the bang behind the buck.
John Hickenlooper, former Governor of Colorado states: “Historically, people who have spent immense amounts of money generally haven’t succeeded. I’m not saying that has anything to do with Mayor Bloomberg at all — I say that only as a way of saying that if he succeeds it won’t be because of the size of his spend. It’ll be because his message resonates.”