Less than a week after Mike Bloomberg committed $100 million to support Joe Biden in Florida, ads that criticize Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic will begin airing this weekend across all 10 of the state’s media markets.
This weekend’s ads are just the beginning, say aides, who expect Bloomberg to announce new campaigns in the state each week, from now until Election Day in November.
Bloomberg officials said that includes a special focus on ads aimed toward Latino and Black voters, including Spanish-language ads that will also begin airing in the coming days.
“We’re going to be up every week and every day through the election in general market television,” said Kevin Sheekey, a senior Bloomberg adviser.
Bloomberg will fund the ads through the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA, a group that has already spent more than $10 million working against Trump in the state. Aides say Bloomberg also plans to partner with the Latino Victory Fund to maximize outreach to Latinos in the state.
Mike Bloomberg is focusing on Florida because without its 29 electoral votes, Trump’s hopes of winning re-election would be severely diminished. And a heavy investment in the state could also force Republicans to siphon resources from other key presidential battlegrounds, like Pennsylvania.
Because Florida is expected to tabulate its votes faster than other states, many of which are expecting to receive absentee ballots at a much larger scale than previous elections, Bloomberg wants Biden to win Florida because it would make clear on the night of the election that Biden won, even if tallies in other states stretch into the following day.
“It is also our hope that we’re able to win the state, which in our view will allow Joe Biden to declare victory on the night of the election and keep Donald Trump from other attempts at tearing this country apart,” Sheekey said.
The first two ads to air are called "Responsibility" and "America First" and underscore just how far behind America is in mitigating the spread of the virus compared to every other country on earth. Watch the ads here and hereand read the full announcement.
The National Task Force on Election Crises, a consortium of election experts and academics, wants to know from news organizations how they'll handle election night — and what happens if a candidate declares victory prematurely.
The group is urging major media outlets to detail how they plan to account for the expected surge of mail-in ballots in how they project winners, and are pleading for caution with calling a victor when results may still be inconclusive on election night.
As the United States approaches the grim milestone of 200,000 deaths from Covid-19, it still has one of the highest death rates per capita across the globe, with 1.8 fatalities per 100,000 people, for a death toll of 5,967 over the past week.
Brazil had a higher death rate per capita, with 2.7 fatalities per 100,000 people, for a death toll of 5,567 over the past week.
Mexico has a similarly high death rate per capita, with 2.3 fatalities per 100,000 people, for a death toll of 2,883 over the past week.
Mike Bloomberg added on Twitter: "In the wake of COVID-19, the world has the opportunity to rebuild stronger, more sustainable economies to fight climate change. Alliances like the Powering Past Coal Alliance need to continue to grow. And with seven new members, we're doing just that."
The U.S. and allies can break Beijing’s monopoly on elements vital to electronics and national defense. If the U.S. is able to solve the problems posed by Chinese domination of rare earths, it could provide a model for building greater resilience in American and Western supply chains more generally.
On this week's town hall in Philadelphia with Donald Trump facing an audience of 'undecided voters':
"Wow, undecided! I assume the night started with each of them being roused from a coma, saying: ‘What year is it? Who’s president? Put me back! Put me back!’" -- Stephen Colbert
“The town hall audience was made up of undecided voters, but after about five minutes most of them were like, ‘Can I go home if I just decided?’” -- Jimmy Fallon
“During last night’s ABC News town hall, President Trump mistakenly claimed that people would be protected from the coronavirus when they develop a, quote, ‘herd mentality.’ Now, obviously what he meant to say was, ‘I am bad at this and I resign.’” -- Seth Meyers
“You mean herd immunity. Herd mentality is what it’s called when you kill 200,000 people and supporters vote for you anyway.” -- Seth Meyers
"Things got so bad at the town hall, when the commercial break showed an ad for Zoloft, the actor was Trump's campaign manager." -- Jimmy Fallon
On Donald Trump citing waiters as people who don't like wearing face masks:
"Sean Spicer heard that and was like, 'It's true. I hate masks.'" -- Jimmy Fallon
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