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Snubbing Iowa, Bloomberg Charts Own Path in 2020 Contest

Associated Press

   SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - Iowa? Whocares.

   On the day the 2020 presidential election kickedoff with the Iowa
   caucuses, Michael Bloomberg was half a continent and a leap of faith
   away in California, where the Democratic candidate sought to bring
   attention to a campaign that has forsworn early voting states and
   anchored its ambitions to California, Texas and other delegate-rich
   battlegrounds to come.

   The billionaire former New York City mayorflewMondayto
   Californiawithwitha retinue of reporters and TV cameras in tow,to
   remind voters thattheirelection, like Iowa's,was underway.

   Early voting in the nation's most populous state beganMonday for the
   March3 primary election. Itwas Bloomberg's fourth trip to the state as
   a candidate.

   His first stop was at a coffee shop in Sacramento, the state capital,
   where in somewhat rambling remarks he encouraged supporters to get out
   and vote. Later appearances were scheduled with Latino voters in the
   heart of the farm belt in Fresno, and in Compton, the Los Angeles-area
   city known as the West Coast capital of hip-hop, where he planned to
   launch a national bus tour for surrogates and supporters.

   Joe Biden says democracy begins in Iowa, but Bloomberg told supporters
   the path to the White House runs through California.

   'We are going to win'

   ``I'm not running against the other Democratic candidates, I'm running
   against DonaldTrump,'' Bloomberg said at the low-key appearance in
   Sacramento, speaking on a stage with a U.S. flag backdrop and ``Vote
   early'' posters. ``We are going to win this.''

   In the crowd was retiree Ruth Holton-Hodson, a Democrat from
   Sacramento, who is leaning toward Bloomberg as the most likely choice
   to defeatTrump. But she said she worries his skip-Iowa plan could
   alienate voters, who would see a wealthy candidate making his own
   rules.

   ``I think it will turn people off,'' she said.

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