The Democrat debate Tuesday night provided little more than a venue for a shouting match between candidates. There were no memorable quotes except for some blunders. The moderators lost control of the event almost immediately and the candidates basically ran the debate on their own, jumping in and answering questions posed to others as everyone else yelled for attention. It was a mess.
One notable verbal gaffe happened as Mike Bloomberg attempted to take credit for the success of moderate Democrats taking back the House majority. He tried to boast that he funded many of their campaigns and let it slip that he “bought” the new Democrat House majority. Of forty so-called moderate Democrat campaigns, Bloomberg took credit for funding 21 of them. He said he spent $100 million dollars to get them elected. He bought them.
Let’s just go on the record. They talk about 40 Democrats. Twenty one of those are people that I spent a hundred million dollars to help elect. All of the new Democrats that came in and put Nancy Pelosi in charge and gave the Congress the ability to control this president, I bough — I, I got them.
This is what Bloomberg has been doing for years, he’s just being honest about it now. He buys election victories. This is why he receives endorsements of his run for president by mayors, state legislators, and other elected officials across the country, not just big-name supporters. It’s time for them to return the favor.
Bloomberg may or may not be successful in purchasing the Democrat nomination this cycle – at this point, it looks like it is Bernie Sanders’ to lose – but he is making it clear that he will support the nominee, no matter who that person is, in the general election. Monday his campaign opened a campaign headquarters office in Manchester, New Hampshire. He is blowing past the traditional primary season and preparing for the general election, whether he is the candidate or not. The Manchester office was opened to have the campaign resources in place. It was a bit awkward, to say the least.
Glen Hooks, an environmental activist and Mike Bloomberg surrogate, had just finishing extolling the former NYC mayor’s climate-change bona fides when he issued his call to action. “I’m asking you guys, over the next eight days as we get ready for the primary, if you haven’t already voted, I hope you’ll vote for Mike.”
“We’ve already voted,” one attendee called out.
Bloomberg wasn’t even on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary but voters wrote in his name, including some Republicans.
On the Democratic side, he received 4,777 write-ins, which is more votes than Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado (984) or Deval Patrick (1,266), the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts. Both Bennet and Patrick dropped out of the presidential race after their poor showings on Tuesday.
Bloomberg received another 801 votes from Republican voters in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
He also won the vote in tiny Dixville Notch, receiving three write-in votes to one apiece for Democrats Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg.
Democrats are looking at New Hampshire as a swing state in the general election. Trump won the state by less than 3,000 votes in 2016. The Manchester general election headquarters is the first one in the state. Bloomberg is opening field offices across the country. Apparently, the plan is to just keep them open and operating after the primary season in preparation for the general election.
The campaign said Sunday that Bloomberg supporters, who were not named, will be aboard a bus dubbed the “Get It Done Express” and will engage other “supporters.”
The campaign said the bus will spend three days on the road traveling from Pennsylvania to Maine, with stops in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire along the way.
“At every stop, supporters will discuss with voters Mike’s record of taking on tough fights on critical issues like health care, gun safety, and climate change and delivering results,” the campaign said.
Bloomberg is taking his strategy of winning local and state elections to a national level of execution. He’s providing the financial and human resources across the country in preparation for defeating President Trump’s re-election in November. His vision of buying the presidency is coming to fruition.
Bloomberg and his national strategists are smart people, so the assumption is they must have a method in their seeming madness. Renting office space, hiring campaign pros like Granite State Democratic strategist Liz Purdy, and plans to hire another dozen or so more — there must be a plan. What is it?
“Mike’s committed to working to support the Democratic nominee whether it’s him or whether it’s somebody else, and supporting the ticket here in New Hampshire,” Bloomberg’s state director Ryan Mahoney said. “This is a state Trump lost by less than 3,000 votes, and we have a competitive governor’s race, U.S. Senate race and congressional races.”
“We’re putting that team together now, and not waiting until July,” Mahoney added.
Why wait for the primaries to play out, right? The important goal to be met is to defeat the bad Orange Man in November. Bloomberg’s willing to pay for it, no matter who the candidate is, even a socialist that would try to destroy capitalism, the system that provided his personal wealth. Man, oh, man. What an election this is turning out to be.