Steyer brings his vanity campaign to North Carolina

by | Jan 10, 2020 | 2020 elections, Editor's Blog | 6 comments

It looks like billionaire presidential candidate Tom Steyer is heading to North Carolina this weekend. Steyer is going to North Carolina Central University to talk about his plan for HBCUs. He’s going to McDougal Terrace in Durham, the public housing complex that had to be evacuated this week because of high levels of carbon monoxide. He’s going to the women’s shelter to discuss homelessness and then to dinner with the Hispanic caucus. On Sunday, he’s going to Goldsboro for Reverend William Barber’s Forum on Poverty.

Steyer is clearly trying to poach Joe Biden’s base of black voters. Most of the events focus on African Americans and from what I’ve heard, he’s reaching out to black elected officials across the state. He’s probably doing the same in South Carolina. He’s been dominating the airwaves in that state and a poll yesterday indicates it’s working. He’s in second place with 15%, though he still trails Biden by 21 points. That will qualify him to be on stage in this month’s debate.

Steyer is really running a vanity campaign. He appeared on the public radar when he launched a campaign to raise awareness about climate change. Many, if not most, of his ads used him as the spokesperson. And of course we should listen to him since he’s a billionaire. When he tired of that campaign, he switched to impeachment, pandering to the left flank of the Democratic Party and calling for impeachment long before Congress should have entertained it. Again, his face was central to the effort. Clearly, the man likes to hear himself talk. 

Steyer has no real record of public service. He’s never served in government or run for office. He did make a ton of money, though, and today that seems to be a qualifying trait to serve as president. It’s worked out so well with Trump. 

I suspect his campaign will really result in a massive waste of money. Unlike Mike Bloomberg, who is putting much of his money into registering voters, Steyer is only concerned about Steyer. As for his campaign to reach African American voters, he may peel a few off of Biden through big ad buys, but he’s talking to a community that has long watched white politicians swoop in to promise the world and who deliver little or nothing. They’ll stick with Biden because of his track record, not his promises. 

6 Comments

  1. Bob Reeber

    Steyer, Yang, Gabbard and Klobuchar all bring something to the table that is different from current senior citizens
    pols and far left candidates who are part of the democratic Machine politics of the past 60 years. If we had term limits impartial district boundary committees to eliminate gerrymandering and less emphasis on party politics perhaps some of these principled people would have a better chance of election. We probably need a constitutional amendment to eliminate party politics and get independents on the ballot.

  2. Lee Mortimer

    You’re showing quite a strong bias against Tom Steyer compared to the laudatory tone in your Michael Bloomberg article. Steyer is running a “vanity campaign,” while Bloomberg’s campaign is “transformational.” You use “billionaire” twice as a pejorative toward Steyer, but the word does not appear in the Bloomberg article — despite Bloomberg having an estimated $52 billions compared to perhaps $3 billion for Steyer. Are you by any chance one of Bloomberg’s “80 paid staffers on the ground” in North Carolina?

  3. Lee Mortimer

    You’re really showing a bias against Steyer and in favor of Michael Bloomberg. Steyer is pursuing a “vanity campaign,” while you describe Bloomberg’s campaign as “transformative.” The first sentence of this article labels Steyer a “billionaire,” and the pejorative appears a second time later in the article. Your article on Bloomberg does not use the “billionaire” label, even though Bloomberg’s wealth is estimated at $52 billion compared to Steyer’s approximately $3 billion.

  4. Hawkeye Carr

    I am supporting Steyer at this time. He appears to be true to his word, and doesn’t have the negatives that other candidates have.he supports all the right issues without appearing to be ‘socialist’.

    I appreciate his billboard Impeachment campaign, which was far ahead of other Democrats.

    I won’t hold his money against him, and God help us if Bloomberg should be considered at all!

    Steyer is the anti-Bloomberg.

    R Carr

  5. K Broniak

    I agree with Ken that you’re being hard on Mr Steyer but maybe you don’t like Democrats in general. Mr Steyer got my attention and support months ago when he was the only candidate stating Trump should be impeached, an action which has been long overdue.

  6. Ken Kehrer

    Kind of hard on Steyer. He has spent years [and millions] supporting progressive candidates, and appears to have decided that no one in this year’s presidential field is up to the task.
    All candidates must have some vanity to think that they are right for the job.

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