Deval Patrick ends presidential campaign after poor showing in New Hampshire

Bloomberg spends big to challenge Trump on his home court: Facebook

Mike Bloomberg is spending so much money on Facebook ads that he has surpassed President Donald Trump, the reigning king of the social media realm.

The billionaire media magnate and the former mayor of New York City has been pouring millions of dollars into Facebook and its sibling app Instagram since he jumped into the Democratic presidential race, easily outpacing the Trump campaign, according to Facebook data compiled by NBC News.

Bloomberg spent more than $1 million a day on average over the past two weeks on Facebook. That’s five times more than Trump spent during the same period — and more than three times what Trump spent per day during his victorious fall 2016 campaign.

With an estimated net worth of around $61 billion, the former mayor said after the muddled results from the Iowa caucuses that he would ramp up his budget for ads and staff. He’s focused on the dozen-plus states that will cast votes on Super Tuesday, March 3, which is reflected in his Facebook spending.

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After NH, the marathon becomes a quick sprint

After NH, the marathon becomes a quick sprint

Feb. 12, 202006:39

ANALYSIS: Klobuchar's bronze is gold as Democrats awaken to a scrambled field

Olympians know bronze feels better than silver. Now, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., does, too.

Finishing third in New Hampshire's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday meant breathing a burst of life into her campaign and holding her most reviled rival, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to a second-place showing.

Her home-stretch surge, fueled by a stellar debate performance Friday, appeared to be the key factor that robbed Buttigieg of the votes he needed to top Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. The surprise star turn combined with the fading of former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to catapult Klobuchar into the conversation about which bridge-the-divide candidate is best equipped to survive a long-slog campaign.

Read the full analysis.

Bloomberg seeks to make stop-and-frisk controversy about Trump

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is working to bounce back from newly unearthed comments he made about crime in minority neighborhoods by casting the controversy as a cynical attempt by President Donald Trump to blunt his momentum in the presidential race.

A day after an audio clip emerged of Bloomberg bluntly defending the stop-and-frisk policy he oversaw as mayor, Bloomberg’s campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey, sought to portray it as an indication Trump is worried about Bloomberg’s rise and the prospect of running against him in the general election. Trump on Tuesday tweeted out the clip and called Bloomberg a “total racist,” although he later deleted the tweet.

“When you threaten Trump, you become a target,” Sheekey tells NBC News. “Mike was mayor for 12 years and fought for all New Yorkers, but he also knows you don’t back down from a bully and we are in a war to remove him from office.”

Bloomberg under fire for ‘stop and frisk’ comments in 2015 audio

Feb. 12, 202001:52

Although the audio clip from a 2015 speech by Bloomberg was discovered and published by a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., it caught fire on social media just as voters in New Hampshire were going to the polls Tuesday in large part due to amplification by the president and his son, Donald Trump Jr., who called Bloomberg’s comments “shocking by any reasonable standard of today.” That’s despite the fact that Trump has and continues to be a strong supporter of stop-and-frisk policing policies.

Read more here.

Yang says 'You haven't seen the last of the Yang Gang' when asked about future run

New York businessman  Andrew Yang, who dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary race Tuesday night after finishing near the bottom of the field in New Hampshire, says he won't rule out running for office again.

"You haven't seen the last of the Yang Gang," he told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

When asked about the possibility of running for New York City Mayor, Yang said he "hasn't ruled anything out at this point."  

"I'm more attracted to executive roles than legislative ones because I think you can get more done, you can get your hands dirtier and roll up your sleeves," he said.

Andrew Yang will support a candidate backing a basic income

Feb. 12, 202005:03

Yang declined to say where his devoted "Yang Gang" should throw their support now that he's out of the presidential race. He said that he has spoken to other Democratic candidates, but he's trying to figure out which of them aligns with his vision, particularly his signature universal basic income policy. 

When asked on CNN whether he would want to be a vice presidential candidate, Yang said he would be honored to serve as someone’s running mate adding, “if I can solve these problems as someone's  vice president, a member of an administration, we just need to start solving these problems for the next generation. And I'm happy to do my part. I'm also happy to do my part to campaign for the nominee and beat Donald Trump in the fall.”

Buttigieg slams Sanders on health care after finishing second in New Hampshire

Pete Buttigieg pitched himself as a unifier who can get progressive policies passed without busting the budget in an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday. 

Fresh off a strong second-place finish in New Hampshire, Buttigieg said he can maintain the momentum going into Nevada and South Carolina, where he said he plans to make his case to Latino and black voters — considered a weak spot in his support base.

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, slammed Sanders for policies that he said would cost too much and said he wants to bring unity to the party around progressive policies. 

"On issue after issue after issue, we share the same goals; what I'm offering is a way to do it that can actually get achieved that is paid for," he said, referring to progressive policies such as universal health care. 

"Nevada’s a good example of a place where there are a lot of union workers, who sometimes gave concessions on wages in order to get excellent plans — I’m thinking about culinary workers, for example," he said, referring to the Culinary Workers Union, which recently sent out a flyer expressing concern that its workers could lose their health care coverage under Sanders' "Medicare for All" proposal. 

"If the choice is between Senator Sanders telling them they’re gonna have to give that up, and me saying we can enhance and increase choice without asking them to sacrifice what they have worked so hard for, I think that is a very good debate for us to have, and I’m looking forward to having that debate," he said, referring to that and other unions who have made health care a priority.

Buttigieg's campaign plans to double his staff on the ground in Nevada, bringing the total to 100, and put more money into the airwaves there. It will be airing an ad in the state titled “Your Choice” that draws a direct contrast between the candidate and Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on health care.

FIRST READ: The 2020 Democratic presidential contest is about to turn into a math race

Andrew Yang has suspended his campaign, but his slogan lives on — and it could very well be the most important story in the race for the Democratic nomination over the next five months.

Math.

After Bernie Sanders’ narrow victory last night in New Hampshire, Pete Buttigieg’s close second, Amy Klobuchar’s surprising third, Elizabeth Warren’s disappointing fourth and Joe Biden disastrous finish in fifth, we now have a delegate race on our hands.

Two contests down, and here’s the pledged delegate scoreboard: Buttigieg 23, Sanders 21, Warren 8, Klobuchar 7, and Biden 6. No other candidate has received a single delegate.

Democratic delegates are awarded proportionately, so to rack up big delegate hauls over the competition, you have to win big — it’s why Super Tuesday looms big.

Get the rest of First Read.