Bye bye Bloomberg

‘I’m a believer in using data to inform decisions,’ Michael Bloomberg said in a statement as he ended his campaign. ‘After yesterday’s results, the delegate math has become virtually impossible – and a viable path to the nomination no longer exists.’

And like that, he’s gone. Perhaps the most extraordinary story of the 2020 campaign so far, Michael Bloomberg’s candidacy, has ended. He seemed to have it all: unlimited funds, vast amounts of data, all the political consultants money could buy. But he’s had to give in and endorse Joe Biden, accepting that the former vice president is a much more attractive candidate to voters.

Bloomberg has learnt the hard way that there are lies, damned lies, and the application of data in politics. Everyone presumed a man as well-resourced as Michael Bloomberg had the confidence to run for president because he had run the numbers.