Does Michael Bloomberg Stand A Chance Running As A Democrat
Many people have criticized Bloomberg for running as a Democrat. They claim that instead of him running as a Democrat, he shouldve ran as a Republican.
These people claim that by Bloomberg running as a Democrat, it will taint the party. After all, they are a party of socialists, rather than a party where the rich will reside.
I personally believe that the presidential election itself will come down to a four way race. Michael Bloomberg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Donald Trump.
Sadly for Bloomberg however, I do believe that President Trump will win re-election based off the statistic that eleven out of the last thirteen presidents have been re-elected.
However, I do believe that it will come down to Michael Bloomberg gaining the Democratic nomination. However, he will lose to Trump in the election itself.
I believe that Bloomberg running as a Democrat will either make or break the party. As, by him running as a Democrat, it may set a precedent that future billionaires will follow. But I doubt that will truly happen.
Do you believe that Michael Bloomberg has a chance at the presidency whilst running as a Democrat? Tell me in the comments!
Bloomberg Thinks Theres A Path For Him
Bloomberg is running as a centrist alternative to the more progressive candidates in the field, and appears to be trying to occupy the space Biden and Pete Buttigieg are competing in. His entrance into the race has caused some eye-rolls hes swooping in late in the game, when voters arguably already have a number of candidates with similar platforms to choose from. Granted, some of these candidates are not as well known as Bloomberg is, andhe has the money to pay for his bid, regardless of any pushback.
As a candidate, Bloomberg is likely to focus on many of the same issues hes championed in recent years: namely, gun control and climate change. He previewed this emphasis in speeches and appearances ahead of his announcement.
During a speech in New Hampshire in January, Bloomberg talked about the need for commonsense gun laws, but was moderate in his rhetoric. Nobodys trying to take away anybodys guns, but we shouldnt be selling guns to criminals or people with psychiatric problems or minors, he said. During the same speech, he touted his record on climate and pointed out hes been working on the issue for more than a dozen years.
He visited Iowa in 2018, and prior to his arrival wrote an op-ed in the Des Moines Register in which he discussed the possibilities for clean energy in the state and the economic impact embracing green energy could have. He hosted a screening there of his new climate change documentary, Paris to Pittsburgh.
Well Is He A Democrat Or Isnt He
He continued, I came to New York City. There are no Republicans. I was a Democrat for a long time. When I wanted to run for mayor, the Democrats wouldnt let me on their ballot but the Republicans said, We dont have a candidate. Would you like to run? And I said, Sure. Why not? And I won twice as a Republican and once as an Independent.
Ummmm
Thats not an answer, Mike. Thats an explanation of WHY youve flipped parties so many times but not an answer of WHICH party your ideas align with the best.
He tried to tout how his gun control, climate change reforms, and tax policies are right in line with Democratsbut he still hasnt really answered the question.
When that didnt work, he touted his wealth: I have helped the Democratic Party a lot in terms of funding. I funded the races in Virginia where there was a background check issue for guns, which is one of my real issues, and it went from red to blue. I funded 24 House contests the last time, in 2018. Twenty-one of them won and that flipped the House from red to blue and put Pelosi in charge.
Ahhhh
So you BOUGHT the election for your fellow Democrats because they couldnt get the job done?
Is that what youre actually saying?
If putting Pelosi in charge is the feather in your cap
Youve got a lot more going wrong than just where your loyalties lie.
Or basically
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The Bloomberg Record: Poverty & Inequality
Some people say, well, taxes are regressive. But in this case, yes they are. Thats the good thing about them. I listen to people saying oh we dont want to tax the poor. Well, we want the poor to live longer And thats why you do want to do exactly what a lot of people say you dont want to do. Michael Bloomberg
Bloomberg has never been shy about being a free-market conservative waging war on the poor, and the only reason it isnt immediately obvious that he is right-wing is that so many Democrats have also been free-market conservatives waging war on the poor. Sure, his 2020 campaign has slapped together some hastily plagiarized literature pitching him as progressive, and he is publishing op-eds claiming that fixing inequality is my priority. After years of staunchly defending racist policing practices, he apologized for them the moment he began the campaign. But none of this should persuade anyone familiar with Bloombergs actual record.
Remember that Bloomberg himself says he is the type of conservative who believes in slashing the government to bits:
I actually am a conservativemore so than other conservatives in the sense that I think you could go and cut 2 or 3 percent out of the budget in every agency. Weve done that 12 times
Today, I will make this commitment: I will not sign a contract with salary increases unless they are accompanied by reforms in benefit packages that produce the savings we need
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Reminder: Michael Bloomberg Was Only Ever A Republican Of Convenience
As Michael Bloomberg inches his way toward a late entrance into the 2020 Democratic primaries, his past as a Republican will no doubt come into focus. But it’s important to recall that Bloomberg was always really a Democrat, and only spent time as a Republican out of short-term convenience.
It all came back to his first political campaign, his run for mayor of New York City in 2001. Though leading up to that point, Bloomberg had been a Democrat, at that point, the Democratic field was already large and crowded.
The Republican Party, however, was desperate to find a plausible candidate to succeed Rudy Giuliani. When Giuliani was elected in 1993, he was the first Republican to do so in the overwhelmingly Democratic city since 1965. With Giuliani out of the picture, the assumption was that things would reset to normal, and a Democrat would be elected. So then Bloomberg steps into the race with an effectively unlimited bank account, and Republicans were all too eager to hand him the nomination.
When it came to the general election, Bloomberg basically promised to continue Giuliani’s tough on crime policies with less drama and to work to rebuild downtown New York City after 9/11.
Bloomberg ended up winning, of course, helped by the fact that Democrats emerged from a bitter runoff deeply divided.
He eventually switched to an independent before coming back home to the Democratic Party.
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Gop Super Pac Pledges $100000 To Support Rep Steve Kings Primary Challenger
WASHINGTON The GOP Super PAC, Defending Main Street, announced that it will spend $100,000 to support the Republican state legislator challenging Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, in the fourth district congressional primary.
The group said Monday it would invest in direct mail, phone calls, and social media advertising aimed at boosting state Senator Randy Feenstra over King, who has been thrown off all congressional committees after making racist comments in an interview.
Now more than ever, the people of Iowas 4th District need a voice in Washington, D.C., Defending Main Street Treasurer, Sarah Chamberlain, said in a statement.
The small businesses, farmers, and families of this district are being excluded from eminently crucial decision-making amid the pandemic. It is time to restore the level of comprehensive representation these Iowans deserve, she added.
King was stripped of his committee assignments by House Republicans last year after they repeatedly condemned his remarks. The final straw for those House Republicans were comments last January about white nationalism.
King had asked in a New York Times interview: White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?
Activities Prior To Campaign Launch
In March 2019, Bloomberg originally announced that he would not run for president.
However, on November 7, 2019, Bloomberg changed his mind and announced that he was taking steps to enter the 2020 United States presidential election, and on November 8 he officially filed for the Alabama Democratic presidential primary. After qualifying in Michigan, on November 12, he filed his candidacy for the Arkansas primary. On November 13, he applied for the Tennessee ballot. On November 19, he gave three separate transactions of $106,500 to the Democratic National Committee along with $800,000 to the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund.
Headquartered at facilities provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the campaigns staff at pre-launch included senior advisors Howard Wolfson, communications adviser Jason Schecter, advertising creator Bill Knapp, pollster Doug Schoen along with sometimes Bloomberg Philanthropies CEO Patti Harris and political consultants Brynne Craig, Mitch Stewart, and Dan Wagner and, at launch, Kevin Sheekey was campaign manager.
On November 21, 2019, Bloomberg filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to declare himself as a Democratic candidate for president, though he said this was not a formal announcement, but a step towards making one if he decides to run.
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Tobacco Guns And Public Health
Bloomberg has been a longtime donor to global tobacco control efforts. Bloomberg has donated close to $1 billion to the World Health Organization to promote anti-smoking efforts, including $125 million in 2006, $250 million in 2008, and $360 million, making Bloomberg Philanthropies the developing world‘s biggest funder of tobacco-control initiatives. In 2013, it was reported that Bloomberg had donated $109.24 million in 556 grants and 61 countries to campaigns against tobacco. Bloomberg’s contributions are aimed at “getting countries to monitor tobacco use, introduce strong tobacco-control laws, and create mass media campaigns to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use.”
Bloomberg is the co-founder of Everytown for Gun Safety , a gun control advocacy group.
In August 2016, the World Health Organization appointed Bloomberg as its Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases. In this role, Bloomberg will mobilize private sector and political leaders to help the WHO reduce deaths from preventable diseases, traffic accidents, tobacco, obesity, and alcohol. WHO Director-General cited Bloomberg’s ongoing support for WHO anti-smoking, drowning prevention, and road safety programs in her announcement of his new role.
Michael Douglas Campaigns For Bloomberg After Republicans Open Milwaukee Office
MADISON A 2020 candidate for president opened an office in Madison on Saturday, with some major star power.
Academy Award winning actor Michael Douglas spoke in support of former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
The new office downtown is Bloombergs second in Wisconsin. His team opened one in Milwaukee last month.
Kirk Douglas, Michaels father, died earlier this week. Michael said at the appearance that his father supported Bloomberg until the very end.
I dont know if he was pulling my leg or not, but one of the last words that he said in the hospital, when he came and he saw me, asked me to lean over close to him, and I leaned over close to him and he said, Mike can get it done, he said.
Douglas continued to campaign for Bloomberg Saturday afternoon, speaking at another event in Oconomowoc.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin got volunteers ready Saturday to start door-to-door campaigning across the state. The spring election is April 7.
Republicans in Wisconsin dont have any specific events planned, but a theyve been calling people in the area. Republican Party of Dane County Chair Scott Grabins says theyre in a different mode than the Democrats, focusing more on the November election.
The Democratic National Convention will be in Milwaukee this year in July. It came under fire this week, after two key officials were suspended for complaints of a toxic work environment.
The convention is July 13-16 at Fiserv Forum.
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Jeff Bezos Asked Him To Run For President
In a March 2019 op-ed, Michael Bloomberg matter-of-factly declared, âI am not running for president.â Citing his efforts to curb climate change and strengthen gun control legislation, he asserted that he could better serve the country from outside the White House than in it. âIâve come to realize that Iâm less interested in talking than doing,â he said. However, in 2019, the richest man on Earth spoke with Bloomberg about putting his money where the Oval Office is.
As reported by Recodeâs Jason Del Rey and confirmed by a Bloomberg spokesperson, personally called Bloomberg. The exact timing is known, but the conversation took place months before Bloombergâs about-face and some time after Amazon opted not to deliver on its plans to establish a headquarters in New York City. During their exchange, Bezos asked if Bloomberg would make a White House run, and Bloomberg asked Bezos to run back to the Big Apple and set up shop there. Both men said no.
Bezos wasnât Bloombergâs only supporter. Via CNBC, several Wall Street executives hoped they could bank on a Bloomberg presidency as a preferred alternative to a progressive Democrat like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren both of whom proposed a wealth tax. According to Yahoo!, Bloomberg, who called the concept of a wealth tax unconstitutional, would owe over $3 billion under Warrenâs plan.
Michael Bloomberg Briefly Explained
Bloomberg was born in Boston and grew up in the surrounding area before attending college at Johns Hopkins University and, later, Harvard Business School. He subsequently joined Wall Street brokerage Salomon Brothers but after more than a decade at the firm was laid off after it was acquired with a $10 million severance. In 1981, he used that money to launch what would eventually become Bloomberg LP. The company initially sold computer terminals with financial information to Wall Street and has now expanded to become a media and technology giant with some 19,000 employees.
He was a Democrat before his 2001 mayoral run in New York City, but switched to the Republican Party for his bid and subsequently won. He became an independent in 2007 and served three terms as mayor.
Since leaving city hall, Bloomberg, who is worth an estimated $52 billion, has dedicated his time to Bloomberg Philanthropies, an organization that encompasses all of Bloombergs charitable giving and focuses on five main arenas: public health, the environment, education, government innovation, and arts and culture. The Chronicle of Philanthropy listed Bloomberg as the second-most generous philanthropist of 2018, behind Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos. He gave $1.8 billion to his alma mater Johns Hopkins in 2018, which as Voxs Dylan Matthews explained, while nice, was a sort of wasted opportunity with that money, he could have done other things to boost college affordability.
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Michael Bloomberg’s Business Career
Bloomberg began his career in financial services in 1966 at the now-defunct Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers, where his first job was counting bonds and stock certificates in the banks vault. He moved up to bond trading, becoming a partner in 1972 and a general partner in 1976.
In 1979, Salomon Brothers moved him from his position of head of equity trading and sales to run Information Systems. This was apparently a demotion, but it put Bloomberg in charge of the department that implemented computer technology. When the company was acquired by the commodity trading firm Phibro in 1981, Bloomberg received a $10 million severance package.
Bloomberg used the windfall to found a company called Innovative Market Solutions that used the latest information systems technology to provide traders with data on U.S. Treasury bond prices. Merrill Lynch became a major client and investor in 1982. This company grew into what is today Bloomberg LP, a financial data and media company headquartered in New York City with offices in 100 cities around the world.
Bloomberg LP recorded $10.5 billion in revenue in 2019. The company operates data terminals used throughout the financial services industry. It also includes the business news cable channel Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and a monthly magazine, Bloomberg Markets. BusinessWeek magazine was purchased by the company in 2009 and was renamed Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
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“I am the person he looked in the eye and said what he was going to do,” said state Rep. Darren Jackson. “I am the person that endorsed him. And I have been the person that reached out to his campaign leadership.”
Jackson said he doesn’t know what Bloomberg’s intentions are in North Carolina, but he adds, “I certainly hoped for help with the House caucus. We have such a once-in-a-decade opportunity. We need his help to take advantage of that. In whatever form he chooses.”
In Georgia, Howard Franklin has similar expectations. He was a senior adviser in the state to Bloomberg’s presidential campaign, and he is optimistic that Bloomberg will fulfill his pledge.
“I think he did set the bar high,” Franklin said.
To make Georgia truly competitive, Franklin says, Bloomberg should make an eight-figure investment.
Georgia is another state with a lot at stake, as a longtime GOP stronghold that appears close at the presidential level, along with two U.S. Senate races due to a special election and competitive U.S. House races in the Atlanta suburbs. It’s also felt the brunt of the two major crises of the year, the pandemic and unrest over racial justice.
Bloomberg is getting pitches like that all day, every day.
Although there’s no evidence yet that he is spending all that he promised, that doesn’t mean Bloomberg can’t or won’t in the remaining days of the campaign, now fewer than 100.
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