Michael Bloomberg courting Houston voters ahead of Super Tuesday
HOUSTON - Loudly backed by the Bayou City's mayor, Mike Bloomberg wasted little time getting to his bottom line - he alone brings both the track record and the bank balance necessary to take down the incumbent.
"If you want somebody who has the resources to beat Trump, that's me. There's no better investment I can make in our country than spending to defeat Donald Trump," said Bloomberg.
And then there's his verifiable record as mayor of America's biggest city - a 40 percent increase in both teacher-pay and the graduation rate, 40 percent fewer uninsured and creation of a half million new jobs in the wake of 9/11.
Bloomberg says it's proof-of-performance in crisis management the current President sorely lacks.
"President Trump was briefed on the coronavirus two months ago, but he buried his head in the sand and his failure to prepare is crippling our ability to respond now that it's at our doorstep," said Bloomberg to a crowd of supporters at The Rustic near downtown Houston.
With a solid showing in the Lone tar State essential, the billionaire former mayor is blanketing the Texas airwaves ahead of Super Tuesday.
While trailing Democratic rivals Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden here in the latest poll, Bloomberg backers believe his moderate message is hitting the mark.
"Genuine, straight forward, tell the truth, straight shooter and able to galvanize people," said Bloomberg supporter Dwayne Bennett.
"Frankly, there is a lot of us who would like to see him beat Bernie because Bernie is destructive to the economy and especially the Texas economy," said Bloomberg supporter Bill Austin.
With the Texas primary rapidly approaching Senator Elizabeth Warren is set to rally in Houston Saturday with both Joe Biden and Tom Steyer scheduled to appear here Monday.
A Texas poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts-Lowell had Sanders leading the Democratic field with 23% followed by Biden with 20 percent and Bloomberg at 18 percent.