The 2020 Democratic race is entering full Bloom.
Former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg is looking well beyond Super Tuesday March 3, and is already planning to staff up and roll out endorsements in Kentucky in time for the May 19 primary there, a campaign insider told The Post. The Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee kicks off less than eight weeks later.
The campaign held a 30-minute field team conference call last week; the only item on the agenda was the massive organization plan for the Bluegrass State.
“Identifying people who could be ambassadors to the campaign, elected officials who could endorse the campaign, local influencers who could guide the campaign,” the source said. “It’s the kind of effort people put into big primary states … It was as if he was running for governor of Kentucky. He is looking at every state independently.”
“There’s never any talk of money,” the insider laughed, alluding to Bloomberg’s $60 billion fortune. “The eyes are on the convention.”
Bloomberg’s strategy is to skip the four early-voting states and he has remained largely above the fray as the party continues to fail to coalesce behind any of the current candidates. Votes in Iowa and New Hampshire brought some clarity, but also laid bare deep divisions between the party’s moderates and far-left insurgents.
Bloomberg — a former Republican and the world’s 12th richest person — has vowed to shell out whatever it takes to win the Democratic nomination, funding his campaign entirely with his own Midas-like wealth.
So far he has spent at least $350 million for web and internet ads alone. Millions more are being paid to his 1,000-strong army of campaign staffers, all of whom are earning far more than their counterparts in cash-strapped rival campaigns.
The spending spree has led to a steady rise in the polls. A new Quinnipiac University survey found Bloomberg at 15% nationally, narrowly trailing a diminished Joe Biden with 17%. Sanders remained out in front with 25% support. Some state polls look even rosier. The billionaire was the top choice of voters in both Florida and Arkansas, according to two recent polls.
Once dismissed as a curiosity candidate, Bloomberg is now treated with deadly seriousness by rivals. Seemingly every day the campaign is tested by embarrassing social media opposition dumps — like his robust defense of stop and frisk during a 2015 speech to the Aspen Institute.
“The campaign feels pretty good. Forget the Aspen comments, we got [Georgia] Congresswoman [Lucy] McBath. She is a woman of color. Her son was killed in a shooting. She is aware of Mike’s signature issues,” a second Bloomberg insider told The Post. The McBath endorsement came the same day Bloomberg picked up an endorsement from Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks, continuing an aggressive effort to woo black voters.
“I think Bernie underperformed [in New Hampshire]. I was expecting a 10-point win,” the insider added of Sanders’ 1.5-point margin of victory. “He will run into trouble in some of these larger states against a guy with a lot of money and a more normal Democratic message.”