Billionaire Bloomberg to spend $100 million in Florida to help Biden

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Billionaire Bloomberg to spend $100 million in Florida to help Biden

By Trevor Hunnicutt

 

FILE PHOTO: Former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks by video feed during the 4th and final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, as participants from across the country are hosted over video links from the originally planned site of the convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. August 20, 2020. 2020 Democratic National Convention/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Bloomberg, who spent $1 billion of his own money on a failed 2020 presidential bid, will inject at least $100 million to help Democrat Joe Biden's campaign against President Donald Trump in Florida.

 

The billionaire's decision comes at a critical moment in the final 51 days of the race, with polls showing a close race in the battleground state and no financial advantage for the sitting president as voting gets under way later this month.

 

Trump's initial financial supremacy over former Vice President Biden evaporated after the Republican's campaign spent freely and Democratic fundraising surged once the party's divisive primary ended.

 

"Mike Bloomberg is committed to helping defeat Trump, and that is going to happen in the battleground states," said Bloomberg adviser Kevin Sheekey, who added that the ex-New York City mayor's spending "will mean Democrats and the Biden campaign can invest even more heavily in other key states like Pennsylvania, which will be critical to a Biden victory."

 

Even before Bloomberg's spending, both campaigns were expecting Florida to be the most expensive state in which to campaign. It will be the biggest prize among competitive states on Election Day, offering 29 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win.

 

In-state voting by mail in Florida starts on Sept. 24, and Biden is planning his first in-person visit to Florida of the general election season on Tuesday.

Trump won the state by 113,000 votes in his victorious 2016 election, or 1.2 percentage points. He has since adopted the state as his residence and visits regularly.

 

Recent polls have shown Biden with a very slim margin there, gaining ground with older voters but trailing previous Democrats' performance with Latinos. People over 65 years old make up one in five of the state's population and Latinos make up one in four.

 

Trump's re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee on Wednesday said they raised a combined $210 million in August, falling far short of Biden's record-breaking haul of $364.5 million for the month that included both party's televised conventions.

 

The strong fundraising may have allowed Biden to completely erase a long deficit in fundraising against Trump. Before the August fundraising tally, the Trump campaign reported having $300 million in cash on hand, compared with Biden's $294 million. Neither campaign has reported a more recent figure. The figures also do not include money being spent by outside groups.

 

The candidates have already booked $58 million in advertisements to run between last Tuesday and the Nov. 3 election, more than any other single state, according to Advertising Analytics LLC, a market data firm.

 

The Republican president, who trails Biden in national opinion polls, told reporters last week that he would spend money from his own real-estate and brand-licensing fortune, if needed.

 

"I thought Mini Mike was through with Democrat politics," Trump said on Twitter on Sunday. "Save NYC instead."

 

Democrats had worried that Bloomberg's promised help for the party might not come through after he abandoned his own presidential primary campaign. Some were angered by Bloomberg's getting a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic convention in August and said that his spending to date did little to advance his candidacy or the party's chances.

 

A Bloomberg aide said the money would be used to help bring people to the polls who support Biden and communicating with Latino voters, in particular.

 

"This will force Republicans and the Trump campaign to shift even more of their limited resources to Florida," the aide said.

 

Bloomberg won't be the only outside actor pouring money into the race. America First Action Inc, a group that supports Trump, said last week that it would spend $12.7 million on new ads in Florida targeting Biden.

 

Unite the Country Inc, a similar group backing Biden, said last week that it is rolling out $1.4 million in targeted digital advertising aimed at persuading Latino voters in South Florida.

 

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Nick Zieminski)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-14

 

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[Puchaiyank]

It is unfortunate that electing an American President has become such an expensive endeavor. 

 

Entire election process needs to be revised.

[oompie69]

Politics is an expensive business, but the rewards are even more lucrative. Why else would people enter politics in the first place? 

Was it ever about serving the people?

 

[Fex Bluse]

Maybe Bloomberg can spend some of that 100 million to get Biden treatment for dementia. 

 

 

[TopDeadSenter]

Can $100 million buy the proposed debate questions? If not, don't waste your money Mr.Bloomberg.

[forehandplus]

10 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

Maybe Bloomberg can spend some of that 100 million to get Biden treatment for dementia. 

 

 

Always weird to encounter the doublethink of Trump supporters. If crazy confused rants are grounds for disqualification then we have a candidate who is not Biden and who indulges in such on an almost daily basis.

[Cryingdick]

6 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Can $100 million buy the proposed debate questions? If not, don't waste your money Mr.Bloomberg.

The problem with that is that the dems are desperate to get people to vote by mail before the debates. So a slow Joe melt down might be of no use. In the future it needs to be vote via smartphone and vote can be changed right until the second the polls close.

 

Either way the election is going to be contested. The dems don't seem to be so sure in the polls themselves. If they were they wouldn't want the mail in voting and secure a clean win. They may think they have a chance but once again are taking out insurance.

[PatOngo]

9 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Can $100 million buy the proposed debate questions? If not, don't waste your money Mr.Bloomberg.

In the region of what Donald spends to keep his wife smiling!

[Cryingdick]

1 minute ago, PatOngo said:

In the region of what Donald spends to keep his wife smiling!

 

If that's the case Donald gets better value for his money.

[ezzra]

No one blows 100 million dollars on election campaign ideology alone, unless they know that somehow, sooner or later they will get it back in kind...

[PatOngo]

11 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

If that's the case Donald gets better value for his money.

I think he got better value from Stormy Daniels for only $130,000!

[Sujo]

23 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

The problem with that is that the dems are desperate to get people to vote by mail before the debates. So a slow Joe melt down might be of no use. In the future it needs to be vote via smartphone and vote can be changed right until the second the polls close.

 

Either way the election is going to be contested. The dems don't seem to be so sure in the polls themselves. If they were they wouldn't want the mail in voting and secure a clean win. They may think they have a chance but once again are taking out insurance.

I have no issue with more people given more access to vote. Especially during the virus.

 

Apparently some just want to make it harder to vote.

[forehandplus]

23 minutes ago, ezzra said:

No one blows 100 million dollars on election campaign ideology alone, unless they know that somehow, sooner or later they will get it back in kind...

What amount is the cutoff point for self-interested political donations?

[TopDeadSenter]

4 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Either way we all know the election will be contested now. 

 How desperate does one side need to be to ruin any chance of a credible and timely election result? It will be sheer chaos. Luckily Trump has been very vocal over this impending fiasco, so hard to blame it on him. 

[Cryingdick]

3 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 How desperate does one side need to be to ruin any chance of a credible and timely election result? It will be sheer chaos. Luckily Trump has been very vocal over this impending fiasco, so hard to blame it on him. 

 

Well if no result is declared it's a mixed bag. Pelosi would be interim President and then the states would all cast one vote per state in the house. That would put Trump in by a landslide and he would then serve a second term ending in 2025. 

 

 

[Scott]

Troll posts and replies removed. 

 

[Poet]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Can $100 million buy the proposed debate questions? If not, don't waste your money Mr.Bloomberg.

Mark my words:

They'll spend that $100m, and all the other money that Wall Street pours into the campaign, persuading Americans that there shouldn't be any debates.

 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Poet

[Thailand]

Money well spent but only if it achieves the objective of removing the current incumbent.

[Matzzon]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Can $100 million buy the proposed debate questions? If not, don't waste your money Mr.Bloomberg.

Sorry, but you know? This is historical. Never have so much money been spent to get rid of one man. Never have so many different enemies in an US election found such strong common ground. The need to get rid of one man. That should tell you something. Your idol is fading, and will soon be out of the picture.

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 How desperate does one side need to be to ruin any chance of a credible and timely election result? It will be sheer chaos. Luckily Trump has been very vocal over this impending fiasco, so hard to blame it on him. 

Setting himself up for when he fails! ????

[Sujo]

3 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Setting himself up for when he fails! ????

Even when trying everything he can to rig it in his favor.

 

usps just been told by a judge to stop mailing out misinformation regarding mail in votes.

[Tug]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Can $100 million buy the proposed debate questions? If not, don't waste your money Mr.Bloomberg.

Oh I don’t know about that now if your idea of a debate is junior high school put downs and nick names trump has it in the bag but if asked why is trump trying to rig the election ferment division and violence de fund social security and wreck healthcare then I think old trump is in deep trouble actually on any issue trumps toast and then that pesky 194,000 dead Americans on his watch......debate please!! Nice to see Bloomberg helping out a man of his word and a man who knows trump for what he is

[Boon Mee]

Ha! It'll take a lot more than 100 million to get Florida to vote for Biden. He's already lost the Latino voters. They aren't ready for his brand of Socialism 

 

MAGA 

[spidermike007]

Bloomberg is a national hero. Stepping up like this could make a huge difference in ridding the nation and the world of this absolute fool. We need a return to civility. When he said he was going to drain the swamp and stir things up, we had no idea! He refilled the swamp with 14 foot crocodiles, and attempted to destroy most of our alliances.

 

Good work Don! See ya! You will not be missed. The world will celebrate your humiliating departure. You will return to a crumbling mine empire. Your name will remain the most radioactive on the planet, and will be impossible to sell. You and your family deserve that. 

[PatOngo]

7 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Ha! It'll take a lot more than 100 million to get Florida to vote for Biden. He's already lost the Latino voters. They aren't ready for his brand of Socialism 

 

 

More attuned to BS, are they?

[Scott]

Troll post and replies removed.

 

[Chomper Higgot]

Bloomberg is keeping the promise he made.

 

He’s widely choosing to spend his money at the time it has the biggest impact.

 

Meanwhile Trump has yet to spend any of his own money on his financially failing campaign.

[PatOngo]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Bloomberg is keeping the promise he made.

 

He’s widely choosing to spend his money at the time it has the biggest impact.

 

Meanwhile Trump has yet to spend any of his own money on his financially failing campaign.

Maybe he's spending it quietly keeping people quiet!.................And keeping the fake smile on Melania's face!

[Paul Henry]

Republicans running out of money, not surprising Trumps history shows he cannot manage money. Personally bankrupt 5 times, as president run up the biggest deficit in the history of the country and still pilfering money from the government ( The peoples money) by not divesting himself of conflicting interests and using his hotels and resorts to line his own pocket. Running a creditable and timely election for Trump and the Republicans is an absolute joke. Get Russia, the Saudis and China involved at Trumps repeated invitations is the only way Trump may have a chance of winning, and he accuses everyone else of treason (don't think he knows what the word means) when he is selling the country out to gain him and his parasitic family more wealth.

[yellowboat]

Waste of money.   Who wants to vote for a guy that needs that much propping up.   He is the darling of the corporate elite obviously, not the average American.