If he builds it, will they come? Inside Michael Bloomberg’s unconventional 2020 campaign – By Alex Seitz-Wald (NBC News) / Jan 7 2020
No one has won the nomination this way, but no major candidate has really tried either.
RICHMOND, Va. — If you’re driving from the airport toward downtown Des Moines, Iowa and hang a right, then keep going for about 1,110 miles, you might end up at Ironclad Coffee in Virginia’s capital city.
Michael Bloomberg is running for president, but the former New York City mayor wasn’t lost when he stopped here Tuesday morning for a decaf Americano — after having arrived before dawn following an overnight flight on a private jet from California — and a meeting with Richmond’s mayor.
Even though Iowa’s crucial first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses are just 27 days away, Bloomberg was here — and everywhere, really, aside from Iowa and New Hampshire — waging what has to be one of the best-funded, least-conventional presidential campaigns in history.
He’s trying to make an end-run to the Democratic presidential nomination around the early states by calling in all the political favors he’s accrued over the years and using his billions to run a robust operation.
On Tuesday, it was in Virginia, which holds more delegates than Iowa and New Hampshire combined and votes just after them in the Democratic primary on March 3. Bloomberg invested millions here to help Democrats successfully turn Virginia blue and push for new gun safety laws.
Democratic presidential candidate, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during a news conference with former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe at Richmond Main Street Station on Jan. 7, 2020 in Richmond, Va.Zach Gibson / Getty Images
“I’m here today to thank Mayor Bloomberg for his consistent support,” former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who has not endorsed a candidate yet, said at an immaculately stage-managed Bloomberg campaign press conference in an otherwise dark and empty space in a converted train station.
Continue to article: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/if-he-builds-it-will-they-come-inside-michael-bloomberg-n1111941
