Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal Dave Levinthal 20240713

Democratic president ial candidate has done, and in a way, no other republican candidate has done either, which is enter a primary late in the game and have quite literally unlimited resources to bring to bear for that election. Weve seen that ever since Michael Bloomberg late in host were happy to welcome back to our desk, Dave Levinthal of the nonprofit news organization, the center for public integrity. His latest piece takes a look at Michael Bloombergs campaign spending. What do you mean when you call Michael Bloomberg a postCitizens United candidate and his own super p. A. C. In that piece . Guest Michael Bloomberg has done something that no other democratic president ial candidate has done, and in a way, no other republican candidate has done either, which is enter a primary late in the game and have quite literally unlimited resources to bring to bear for that election. Weve seen that ever since Michael Bloomberg late in november declared and he has been spending an unprecedented amount of money for a president ial race in u. S. History. We talk about super p. A. C. s, these super charged Political Action committees. Theyve been around 10 years. Theyre part of the legacy of the Supreme Court Citizens United decision back in 2010, celebrating the 10th anniversary of that just a month ago. And Michael Bloomberg, he basically operates like a super p. A. C. Does in the sense that hes the personification of that. Hes an individual who can come and spend and raise as much money as he wants to, almost instantaneously and put that directly into the political system but as a candidate. Host how much of his own money do we know hes put in . I know reports sort of lag behind a little bit on the information that you get. But how much so far, and put that in perspective of past selffunders . Guest we know hes spent more than about 350 million on advertisements alone. In fact, today, later today, were going to get an official report filed with federal regulators that are going to, to the penny, show how Michael Bloomberg and all the other candidates have raised and spent over the month of january. We expect for Michael Bloomberg that number to be extraordinary, but just from the spending report that weve seen for advertisements, 350 million far supersedes what all of the other Democratic Candidates put together he has spent during the entire course of the 2020 election. Were talking just an extreme amount of money here. Were talke amount of money here. Host should invite viewers to join us in this segment. Phone lines, republicans, 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. Independents, 2027488002. If you have a question about money and politics, Dave Levinthal is your guy to ask the question to. When it comes to unlimited resources, what does the spending that Michael Bloomberg is doing this cycle, what are some examples of what nearly unlimited resources allows a candidate to buy . Guest it means he can be on television. He can be on facebook, on twitter, on any social media platform, any media platform, period, be it traditional or new. And he can get the message out about himself, about donald trump for sure, and he can build a profile for himself that goes beyond what the other candidates are ever able to do, given the resources that they personally have through their campaigns, even somebody such as Bernie Sanders who has raised a heck of a lot of money by democratic primary standards for a president ial campaign, but is being dwarfed financially speaking by Michael Bloombergs financial largess. Michael bloomberg isnt actually raising money. Hes just simply taking money that he has in his own personal account and putting it directly into his campaign, which is perfectly legal for him to do. Its just not something that democrats have really ever done in a president ial context. Host so flush that he pays social Media Influencers 150 a pop just to help make bloomberg look cool. Guest he can spend his money on anything he wants to. He can try something. It can fail within a couple of days or a week. Or he sees his money being spent in a better place in a better way to try to boost his profile. And i should mention his poll numbers, which have been rising steadily over the past couple of weeks, and if somethings not working, he can try something else. When you have 64 billion to your name, this is something that you can afford to do. It would be like if somebody has a savings account with 100,000 in it, like spending 1,000 or 2,000 to get your air conditioner and hvac unit replaced. Its going hurt a little bit, but really not a lot given the amount of money that you have. Host the story with Michael Bloomberg, democrats smash against their own antibig money firewall. If you want to read that story, it came out yesterday. Dave levinthal with us this morning. Call and ask your questions. One quote from that story from yesterday, bloomberg has trampled most every Democratic Party platform plank designed to defend against the political influence of people like him. What were some of those defenses that had been set up . Guest in 2016, when the Democratic National convention took place in philadelphia, the democrats were very clear about how they felt about billionaires who, in their estimation, were attempting to buy elections. They had some very strong words that were put in the planks of that platform, talking specifically about billionaires who were doing just that. So when Michael Bloomberg comes in and basically is a billionaire who is buying his way to prominence, for better or for worse, and he makes a very strong case that, look, im somebody who can take donald trump on. Im somebody who can spend and even outspend donald trump in a general election, unless a lot nevertheless, a lot of democrats are shaking their heads saying, wait a minute, this is not what we stand for. This is not what the Democratic Party is all about. You hear that argument a lot from democrats, such as Bernie Sanders and elizabeth warren, who are saying, no, no, no, no, what Michael Bloomberg is doing, what he represents is against what the Democratic Party should represent and does represent in their estimation. Host one of the callers in our first segment was upset on the rules change that allowed Mike Bloomberg to get on the stage. Explain that rules change, the fundraising aspect of that rules change. Guest we had something in the 2020 debate cycle that really wasnt there before, which is a small dollar donation threshold that candidates, both who were running months ago and have dropped out, and the candidates who still remain, have had to adhere to. There was a changing small dollar donor threshold, but it basically meant that you would have to raise individual donations from a variety of people, tens and tens and tens of thousands of people, and that was one of the criteria, along with polling, to get yourself into the debate. Michael bloomberg comes along. He starts doing really well. He starts buying up advertisements all over the place, particularly in super tuesday states, which is coming up in less than two weeks, and and the Democratic National Committee Said they were going to do something that promised not to do which is get rid of those small dollar donation threshold figures. Michael bloomberg was able to get himself into last nights debate. Maybe he is wishing, given what happened, that he wasnt in that debate. Michael bloomberg was on that stage because the democratic d it was going to change the rules