Bloomberg? Cool your jets.

Michael Bloomberg is having a moment. 

People who are Bernie-skeptical think maybe they have their guy.  

Maybe not. 

The dog may not eat the dog food.

Dog food?  This is an allusion to an advertising/business school story. A pet food company introduced a new dog food product and spent tens of million of dollars advertising it. Sales were slow. They doubled the advertising, but sales actually fell. They got the top executives together, plus consultants from McKinsey, and everyone agreed they needed more advertising. The meeting went late into the night discussing the increased budget, and the night janitor slipped into the room to empty wastebaskets. He quietly overheard the discussion, and chuckled. The CEO called to him to ask what was so funny. The janitor said the problem was simple. "I bought some for my dogs. They tried it. They don't like it."

What we don't know about Bloomberg is the most important thing. Will Americans actually vote for Michael Bloomberg?

Iowa and New Hampshire did the grim work of thinning the field.  Bernie Sanders is on track to win, because the other candidates either lost, or are on track to lose. The campaign exhausted and thinned sixteen candidates.

The process continues. Biden, Warren, and Steyer disappointed expectations. Possibly they can replace Buttigieg and Klobuchar, but there is only room for one or two survivors, probably Sanders and one alternative to him. All but one campaign will languish for lack of votes and money. 

Plus Bloomberg. He won't run out of money. He "makes sense," but that may not matter.

Elizabeth Warren also made sense to do well in New Hampshire, but she didn't. Apparently there was something about her. Ralph Bowman, who has posted angry rants on this blog, said he was turned off by her: "She acts like a teacher trying to get across a lesson plan to bored Senior High students, all pumped up and trapped in phony sales pitch sound, and so falls flat. Too smart for the dumb crowd, so she amps up the energy to make a point." 

Other people told me the same thing. There was just something about her that they did not like.

Tom Steyer gave New Hampshire voters every chance to support him. He spent 19 million dollars introducing himself to New Hampshire and he visited New Hampshire 31 times. He advertised. He looked the camera in the eye and said things Democrats like to hear, that Trump was corrupt, that he should be impeached, that climate is a real problem, and that he was putting his money where his mouth is. The policies he advances are essentially the same as Warren's and Sanders' but from an outsider with a conscience. It should have been a sweet spot. He got 3.6% of the vote.

Possibly it is a matter of face time, not ads. Tulsi Gabbard visited New Hampshire 96 times, more than any other candidate. She has an anti-war and anti-establishment message many Democrats like. She should have had a niche. She did, a 3.3% one.

Bloomberg starts with a reputation as mayor of New York City. Bloomberg creates an angry response from a many leftist Democrats. That is a positive for Bloomberg. It means he has a brand. It means he is understood to stand for something, which means he is a bonafide political actor. Steyer said things that actually got agreement from Democrats, but they did not take Steyer seriously as a political player. They do Bloomberg.

A brand Americans trust already.

Donald Trump came to his campaign with an established brand, the big brash New York tycoon executive showman. Bernie Sanders has a national brand, achieved through previous campaigns. Tom Brady or Oprah Winfrey or Rachel Maddow could run for president with national name id, and they would have a giant start. Each has a known brand onto which political views could attach.

Bloomberg is not buying the election. Votes are not for sale, as Steyer demonstrates. But one can buy attention and flesh out a brand. That is what he is doing. Then voters vote.

Bloomberg was not well known on national issues. His ads are fixing that. More important and credible are his twitter fights with Trump. Those get favorable notice and attach to his brand. By Super Tuesday Michael Bloomberg will be nationally famous. It will cost him a half billion dollars to have what Tom Brady has already.

What we will not know is if people will vote for him. If so, it will be that two person race, Sanders versus Bloomberg. Democrats will decide what kind of party they want it to be. Or rather, what kind of party they need it to be, when the alternative candidate is Trump.