Mike Bloomberg doubles ad spending, expands staff after Iowa caucuses
Mike Bloomberg has doubled his ad spending and expanded his staff in the wake of the chaos at the Iowa caucuses Monday. The billionaire Democratic presidential candidate did not participate in the first-in-the-nation caucus, in favor of later contests.
Bloomberg is planning to expand his staff to at least 2,000 personnel nationwide and to double his ad spending in the television markets, where he's currently airing commercials touting his candidacy, a senior campaign official confirmed to CBS News.
Bloomberg has focused his spending on "Super Tuesday" states. This year, a total of 16 states will hold a primary or caucus on Tuesday, March 3. Among them will be California, which sends 495 Democratic delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July.
"After more than a year of this primary, the field is as unsettled as ever," Bloomberg spokeswoman Galia Slayen said in a statement. "No one has made the sale or even come close to it. Meanwhile, Mike is taking the fight to Trump every day, doubling down on the national campaign strategy we've been running from the beginning."
The Bloomberg campaign has sought to cast doubt and diminish the ongoing early state contests. The debacle at the Iowa caucus — typically seen as an important arena for candidates to gain momentum — could work in Bloomberg's favor.
While the rest of the Democratic field was battling it out in Iowa, Bloomberg was out west. He spent Monday traveling throughout California, making the case to voters that he's all-in on the state.
On Monday in Fresno, California, Bloomberg announced that he will have 800 staffers in California by the end of next week. Only 300 of those 800 staffers are full-time, the additional 500 will be part time. He currently has 220 full-time staffers in the state.
Bloomberg was in Michigan and Pennsylvania on Tuesday, and plans to campaign in Providence, Rhode Island, on Wednesday.