Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Tom Steyer has paid the price for focussing far too much of his campaign on climate change, instead of addressing issues people care about.
Tom Steyer ends 2020 presidential campaign
By Kate Sullivan, CNN
Updated 0317 GMT (1117 HKT) March 1, 2020
(CNN) Tom Steyer ended his presidential campaign on Saturday night after the billionaire businessman failed to gain traction in a large field of Democratic candidates.
Steyer exited the race after he failed to claim victory in South Carolina, a state he invested heavily in, hoping it would turn around his sputtering run.
“I said if I didn’t see a path to winning that I’d suspend my campaign,” he said. “And honestly, I can’t see a path where I can win the presidency.”
The businessman’s decision comes after disappointing showings in the race’s first three contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. In Nevada, Steyer outspent the rest of the Democratic field on advertisements by more than $13 million.
…
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/29/politics/tom-steyer-drops-out-2020-race/index.html
I’m surprised Tom Steyer dropped out so early. Given his resources and the quality of his opponents I thought Tom had a real chance of claiming the prize. But even Democrat activists failed to warm to his bland single issue presence, so Tom sensibly withdrew from a competition he no longer has any chance of winning.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Great write up by Sundance on where, why, and how the real World War is being fought right now.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/03/01/there-are-trillions-at-stake-2/
Is he REALLY a “Climate Fanatic”? OR is he a government crony dole taker who sees his massive investments in “renewables” under tremendous risk given a Trump second term. .
Yes.
I mean really! What can one say about the portion of the electorate that is so ignorant they believe that drinking a Corona beer will give them the Covid-19 virus?
Rah, be skeptical of that survey. People really aren’t that stupid.
It could be fake news, it could be a bad survey, or it could even be the lead-in to an advertising campaign.
It’s kind of like when you read about people belonging to various Flat Earth Societies and you wonder how people could be so stupid until you find out that most of the Flat Earth Societies are drinking clubs.
If the sales advantage of climate has been overestimated, I wonder if the sales power of climate has peaked.
Let’s look at Tom Steyer’s campaign finance filing to the Federal Eclection Commission (FEC) as on 31 January 2020.
So Steyer at the end of January 2020 had $17.86 Million in his campaign committee accounts. He also contributed 98.65% of the $263,202,505.63 contributed to his account (contributed money does not have to be given back). Steyer also made a $7.5 Million loan to his own campaign committee, an amount which does have to be paid back.
============
Now Steyer dropping out means he can cancel all his ads and stop his campaign committee spending. So whatever he has on 1 March 2020 (today), he will pay back his loan to himself ($7.5 Million) and the rest well…. that’s the Stinky part.
Per Federal Election Commission (FEC) guidelines he can now transfer whatever tens or hundreds of millions of dollars he has Left-over in his campaign committee accounts to the DNC or to anyone of the other candidates (The line item above: TRANSFERS TO OTHER AUTHORIZED COMMITTEES). There is no limit on how much he can transfer to the DNC.
See the FEC contribution table here:
https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/candidate-taking-receipts/contribution-limits/
Note the table, per FEC rules, a non-candidate (such as you and me) can only donate a maximum of $35,500/year/campaign to the DNC and to candidate’s campaigns. If Steyer hadn’t been a declared candidate, he also would be limited by that amount.
<b<Steyer's candidacy I suspect real purpose was to effectively been to bypass the $35,500/year limikt he could have contributed if he hadn't been a declared candidate. He can now to send the measly tens of millions of Left-overs directly to the DNC, or another campaign as he sees fit.
Billionaire Steyer has run a self-funded campaign so he has stuffed his campaign committee with many hundreds of millions of dollars. A slick operation to exploit a loophole.
Note: We won’t know until his 15 April FEC filing how much he had left over and how much he actually transferred. But I can assure you people in the media are watching.
” people in the media are watching”
And most of them will applaud this as slick Democratic Party out-flanking of the GOP. 🙁
Bernie Sanders and his followers are no fan of these billionaire democrats trying to buy their party’s nomination.
You can bet Bloomberg is donating heavily to the DNC superdelegate PACs to buy them. Nancy Pelosi is a Super Delegate, and Bloomberg gave her House Majority PAC a $10Million check on 16 December as a reward for impeaching Trump and to buy her loyalty at the convention. As Speaker of the house she has a lot of influence on other SuperDelegates who want her favors. The DNC is a massive quid pro quo swamp of reptilian slithering lowlifes that get rich by selling influence.
Tom said: “ that I’d suspend my campaign, ”
“suspend”
. . ., hiatus, quit, abandon, take a hike, go home and play with my toys . . . Who cares?
A few years ago the climate folks argued over the meaning of hiatus. That was understandable, but when a candidate says suspend, is there a possibility she/he will appear at the convention and say “I am unsuspending my campaign?”
Anyway Tom, thanks for passing some of your $$$ on to others via the expenses of competing, however useless that was. To the closest whole number it was zero. Try again in 4 years.
I suspect that a “suspended” campaign can continue to collect donations.
Must be the ‘brother of Steggles’….who took Tony Abott’s seat in Australia…..just an air-head…
A lot of money to blow on an ego trip. I guess he can afford it. One less climate fool in the mix, at least in the foreground.
Well I’ve been barracking for the Bern and Occasional Cortex for potential Pres and running mate all along as the Dems need a good blend of Commies and Marxists not in any particular order as one is not more equal than the other when you’re gender neutral and it’s quite clear the capitalist running dogs have to go. Roll on Super Chooseday Dems and Greta will be there for the warmup folks.
I’m surprised that anyone is dropping out this close to Super Tuesday. Why not stay in and try to corral a couple of delegates. If there is no candidate that has a majority going into the convention, having a couple of delegates that you can pledge to somebody gives you the opportunity to make deals.
Obama asked Mayor Pete to get out in a phone call. His delegates will go to Biden of course.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/485510-buttigieg-set-to-endorse-biden
Traditionally US Presidency candidates go extreme during the primaries, then move towards the middle in the general election. The Democrats fear that Bernie can’t and won’t make the moderation shift and therefore lose the middle swing vote to Trump, whom the undecided will see as “the lesser of 2 evils” which is basically what doomed Hillary. Folks didn’t like Trump, but they hated Hillary. When I talk to my less-than-rabid more mainstream friends, they may not all love Trump but they see Bernie as a pitiful doddering old lunatic.
Yet tonight, Mar 2, I’ve seen at least a dozen Steyer commercials this evening alone….no refunds I guess.
Steyer should be free to burn as much of his coal made money as he wishes .
The Democrats ignore peoples priorities and instead try and shove their agenda on to everyone else .
Global warming fear mongering is about 17 on peoples list and a great many see it for what it is . A UN promoted scam to raise money for their globalist agenda . It was chosen by Maurice Strong , at the UN as a tool to galvanize public support for global communist government . He sought to destroy capitalism . and he walked the talk , living in China in later years.
Steyer is back where he belongs …. screwed up California .
One thing he did accomplish and that is by jumping in late
he confirmed there isn’t a Democrat with a hope of beating Trump .