an impasse of no consequence for Bloomberg, absent from Iowa

Democratic nomination contestant Michael Bloomberg at the podium of a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 4. TOM GRALISH / AP

The Iowa caucus fiasco was certainly good news for Michael Bloomberg. By deciding to ignore the first states to vote in February, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, to focus on the fourteen states of Super Tuesday, March 3, the billionaire late entering the race for the democratic nomination had raised questions.

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Did not sacrificing to the rites of the first stage of this electoral marathon in the Midwest translate a form of sufficiency? Was it not risking marginalization when the country's attention was focused on the candidate who would triumph in Iowa? The spectacular failure of the Democratic Party in this state and the absence of an official winner, twenty-four hours after the votes, Tuesday, February 4, on the contrary immediately dispelled these doubts, even if they risk re-emerging on the evening of New Hampshire primary, February 11.

“Each other campaign team considers the primary as a sequential set of contests. They spend time in Iowa and New Hampshire … hoping to gain momentum to bounce back and forth, " Dan Kanninen, one of Michael Bloomberg’s campaign managers, told the Associated Press in mid-January. "We see this as a national conversation", he added.

Measured quivering

This plan involves massive spending on television commercials. Michael Bloomberg has already spent more than $ 300 million on it, probably more than all the other Democratic candidates put together. Added to this is the establishment of campaign teams across the country. Also according to the Associated Press, more than 2,100 people are already working for the billionaire, including 450 in the states deemed critical in November: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but also North Carolina, Florida and Arizona.

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Just over two months after entering the race, the thrill is still measured. At the start of his business, Michael Bloomberg was credited with only 2.5% of voting intentions according to the average of polls calculated by the RealClearPolitics site. Today he gets 8%. these are surveys at the national level which have only an indicative value since the elections are decided state by state. The result places the billionaire fourth, far behind the favorites of former vice president Joe Biden, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren. He was ahead, however, of the youngest in the race, Pete Buttigieg, and the Minnesota senator, Amy Klobuchar.

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