San Diego Congressman Scott Peters endorsed Mike Bloomberg for President this morning. It’s a crafty endorsement for Peters because Bloomberg is an “outsider” but hardly an “outlier”. Bloomberg was a successful disrputor in the Wall Street information business and built an admirable financial multi0media network. Most recently, Bloomberg served as the 108th Mayor of New York City from 2002-2014.
Peters joins five other Huuse members, including Orange County’s Harley Rouda, and San Diego City Councilman Mark Kersey, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Chula Vista Mayor Mary Salas, Coronado Mayor Pro-Tem Whitney Benzian, Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina and 8 other Mayors across the country by endorsing Bloomberg.
It’s a risky strategy but not a crazy one. Trump proved in 2016 that, by dominating the media, he could gain enough traction in the primaries to lock up the fast lane to the nomination by the end of March. Cruz and Kasich put up a fight but it was all over by April 1, 2016.
Socialists Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren will battle it among radical voters while Bloomberg’s real competition appears to be former Vice President Biden. If Bloomberg splashes big in March, he can make the case that Biden is a long time DC insider and the only way to fight a disruptor (with lots of money) is another disruptor (with lots of money).
Wall Street will back Bloomberg. Business groups will back Bloomberg. Progressives will hate that he “bought” the nomination but eventually fall in line behind him. My bet is that Bloomberg is standing on the debate stage against President Trump in November.