美国国家公共电台 NPR Michael Bloomberg Has Already Spent More Than $100 Million On Campaign Ads

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

Money is pouring into the 2020 presidential election. Now, that would likely be the case anyway, but it's especially true this time because there are two billionaires in the Democratic primary who can fund their own campaigns. One of them is New York City's former mayor Michael Bloomberg. He's spending his money not on campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire but on ads. And it is a lot of money. He's spent more than $100 million already. NPR political correspondent Asma Khalid has been looking into this strategy. Hey, Asma.

ASMA KHALID, BYLINE¹: Hey, Noel.

KING: So Mike Bloomberg and the environmental activist² Tom Steyer are the two self-funded candidates. They are both billionaires. How do they compare to the other Democrats³ running?

KHALID: Well, first, let me just explain how much they are spending. Collectively, Steyer and Bloomberg have spent about $200 million so far. That's according to Advertising⁴ Analytics, a firm that's been tracking campaign ad spending. And really, Noel, that is historic levels of spending.

For some context, the firm says it's about a quarter of all the money that was spent in the 2016 cycle, primaries and general election together. The next biggest spender, though, among the Democrats currently is Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind. And he's only really spent a fraction of what Steyer and Bloomberg have. He is just at around $20 million on ads.

KING: OK. So much, much less. One of the really fascinating things here is that Bloomberg has only been a candidate in this primary for about 30 days, and yet he's already spent this massive sum of money. Is that basically Mike Bloomberg's strategy - spend, spend, spend?

KHALID: Well, I mean, sort of. I mean, he's decided⁵ to bypass the first four early voting states. And that in itself is a pretty unusual strategy. The main reason that Michael Bloomberg can do this is because he's one of the richest men in America. You know, he is worth more than $50 billion. And lately, he has been blanketing the airwaves, introducing himself to voters in essentially⁶ every single TV market in the country.

(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Jobs creator, leader, problem solver. Mike Bloomberg for president.

MIKE BLOOMBERG: I'm Mike Bloomberg, and I approve this message.

KHALID: And, Noel, I wanted to understand more about how this strategy is supposed to work, and I'm going to spend a few minutes telling you about that. One person I talked to is Democratic strategist Karen Finney.

KAREN FINNEY: Given the amount of money that he has spent, he's increasing in name recognition, to - by the poll numbers.

KHALID: And Finney is right. As Bloomberg has spent money, you've seen a slow, steady increase in his poll numbers. He's now averaging around 5% nationally, and that's higher than many Democrats who entered this race long before him. Bloomberg has proved that he can finance his own election and win. He did that as mayor of New York City. But Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg says it's not easy, especially in a Democratic primary.

ANNA GREENBERG: Self-funders can win elections, but it's always challenging for them. And there's a kind of perception that you're trying to buy the election, which is quite problematic for some voters. I mean, it's less about someone being a billionaire and more about the idea that they're trying to sort of buy it.

KHALID: Greenberg is not discounting the importance of money. And in fact, she says when she's worked in primaries where nobody really knows any of the candidates, the person who's spent the most money has won. But this Democratic presidential primary is different. People are already plugged into the race.

GREENBERG: You have a lot of candidates that are well-known. You have a lot of very engaged voters following the primary. Somebody coming in with money can't really - it's not a blank slate⁷. People have - already have ideas of who they support. And so it's just much harder for that money to have influence.

KHALID: Bloomberg's money strategy is not just about advertising. It's also about hiring, especially in the states that will vote right after those initial primaries. Here's Karen Finney again.

FINNEY: The recent announcement that he's added 200 staffers on the ground in a number of the March Super Tuesday states, it changes the calculation a little bit for the candidates who are currently in.

KHALID: Bloomberg's strategy is based on the assumption that Democratic voters are anxious and not rallying around any single candidate. And his campaign thinks he has a path if no candidate emerges as the clear favorite after the first few states vote.

STEVE WILLIAMS: You don't need to have early primary states. He's got a network all across the country right now. What he has done nobody - nobody - has been able to match.

KHALID: That's Steve Williams, the mayor of Huntington, W.Va. That network he's referring to - it's mayors all across the country, mayors who trust Bloomberg and feel indebted to him because they've received millions of dollars in grants to build arts centers or fight climate change. After Bloomberg left office, he leveraged⁸ his personal fortune into helping⁹ other cities. Earlier this month, Williams endorsed¹⁰ Bloomberg, whose foundation gave his city assistance related to the opioid epidemic¹¹.

WILLIAMS: Somebody helps you, you help them. And it's amazing how our city has benefited because of Mayor Bloomberg's support.

KHALID: These mayors say it's not just about the money. It's about witnessing Bloomberg's expertise¹² and judgment¹³ firsthand. Bloomberg is essentially running a general election campaign in the primaries. Earlier this week, he launched a digital ad depicting¹⁴ Democratic voters in battleground states, warning that Trump¹⁵ could win reelection.

(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)

BLOOMBERG: We need to wake up. In Michigan, the only one campaigning here is Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: As a Pennsylvanian, I understand there's a caucus¹⁶ in Iowa, but what about here?

KHALID: Michael Nutter¹⁷, the former mayor of Philadelphia, recently endorsed Bloomberg and is now serving as his national political chair. And he says this general election outreach is part of their strategy.

MICHAEL NUTTER: We're going to places where Democrats, for the most part, are not going right now, where we have to win in order to win the White House in 2020.

KHALID: He points to his home state.

NUTTER: Pennsylvania doesn't vote until April, but there's an office now open in Philadelphia, and there'll be others in Pennsylvania way before.

KING: OK, so Asma, Bloomberg is basically trying to address the central question for Democrats, which is, who is the person who can beat President Trump?

KHALID: Yes. And, you know, as we have heard, campaigning in battleground states is a key part of it, but so is money. The Trump campaign and the Republican Party have raised $300 million from January through September, and we're going to get new fundraising numbers soon that will include the last three months, which was the time period of Trump's impeachment¹⁸ battle, so it's likely that, you know, those new numbers are going to be substantially higher. But in essence, Bloomberg's theory is that President Trump has buckets of money to spend, and Democrats need to be able to compete with that.

KING: NPR's Asma Khalid, thanks so much.

KHALID: You're welcome.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

8 leveraged   

促使…改变( leverage的过去式和过去分词 )； [美国英语]杠杆式投机，（使）举债经营，（使）利用贷款进行投机

参考例句：

• Chrysler has traditionally been a highly leveraged company. 克莱斯勒一向是一家周转十分灵活的公司。
• Leveraged recaps have become popular for a number of reasons. 杠杆资本重组的大行其道有好几个原因。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

12 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

13 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

14 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

15 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

16 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

17 nutter   

n.疯子

参考例句：

• Don't call him nutter because it is such a bad term.别叫他“疯子”，这不是个好词。
• But it's awfully ruthless and cold-blooded for a nutter from the other side.但是对那边的疯子们来说，却也实在太冷血无情了。

18 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。