‘Rebuild America’: one of world’s richest men enters US presidential race

WASHINGTON: Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, one of the world’s richest men, announced his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination Sunday by promising to “rebuild America” and defeat President Donald Trump.

The announcement, which Bloomberg telegraphed for weeks even after deciding earlier this year to not run, reflects his view that the current field of Democratic candidates is not well positioned to win in 2020.

Bloomberg has promised a disruptive campaign that could break spending records with a massive advertising buy aimed at states that vote in March and April.“I believe my unique set of experiences in business, government and philanthropy will enable me to win and lead,” Bloomberg said in a statement on his redesigned campaign website. “As a candidate, I’ll rally a broad and diverse coalition of Americans to win. And as president, I have the skills to fix what is broken in our great nation. And there is a lot broken. In an accompanying video, Bloomberg offered a preview of what he will focus on in the race, including his philanthropic work fighting gun violence, closing coal-fired power plants and funding medical research. Without offering specifics, his announcement video says he will push for the wealthy to pay more in taxes and to guarantee health care to all Americans without removing private insurance from anyone wants it.

His campaign has made more than $30 million in television advertising reservations to help introduce him as a candidate. The ads will start Monday. He also has plans for what advisers call an “aggressive and robust digital strategy.”

Bloomberg has also announced a $100 million ad campaign to criticize Trump in key battleground states, and a $15 million voter registration effort in those same places. Those initial spending plans are already double the amount raised by top fundraiser in the Democratic field, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., through September. Sanders, who has described his own campaign as a fight against the billionaire class, has been particularly critical of Bloomberg’s entry into the race.

“I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any other billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy our elections,” Sanders said Friday in a statement. “It’s just the latest example of a rigged political system that we are going to change when we’re in the White House.” The initial Bloomberg ad campaign, in English and Spanish, will focus on his biography in an effort to introduce himself to voters.