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Michael Bloomberg’s North Carolina Game Is Seriously Unlike Anything Else
The Super Tuesday state is the former New York mayor’s best shot at primary delegates — and he knows it
Seeing the Bloomberg presidential campaign up close, there is no easy way to describe it. The campaign is simultaneously a sophisticated, well-funded effort to win the presidency and a bizarre grift that allows staffers to enjoy catered meals and six-figure incomes. It has inspired some people to get involved in politics and is at least attempting to create the framework for a real volunteer effort. But it also shows off that ground game to reporters with a Potemkin canvass that seems like a cobbled-together public relations exercise rather than a window into an organic grassroots effort. And, of course, it is a giant marketing effort with a volume of ads across all media — television, radio, online — on a staggering scale.
North Carolina may be Bloomberg’s best state on Super Tuesday, and on paper, Bloomberg’s organization in North Carolina is formidable. By Super Tuesday, the campaign will have 10 offices and a staff of more than 125 in the state. Bloomberg has already spent $14.4 million on advertising in North Carolina. That’s more than Bernie Sanders, his most well-financed competitor, has spent on the air in all 14…
