Meatballs, dolphins and Lady Gaga: Bloomberg’s Twitter account tweeted some quirky things during the Democratic debate
Michael Bloomberg wasn’t present at Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, so his campaign appealed to voters in a different fashion: quirky tweets.
Throughout the night, the Team Bloomberg account posted “interesting facts” about the candidate and off-beat jokes. The former New York City mayor and billionaire is self-funding his campaign and thus didn’t meet the debate’s donor requirements.
“Test your political knowledge: SPOT THE MEATBALL THAT LOOKS LIKE MIKE,” the account tweeted along with a photo of meatballs. One tweet joked that Bloomberg can “telepathically communicate with dolphins.”
“In lieu of an inaugural address, Mike plans on singing ‘Shallow’ with Lady Gaga. #BloombergFacts #DemDebate,” another tweet read.
Bloomberg campaign spokeswoman Gail Slayen told CNN the campaign was “trying something fun last night” and noted that the effort was teased in advance. Before the debate, the campaign sent an email to supporters saying it would be tweeting out “fun stuff.”
“The debate is tonight. And since Mike isn’t taking donations, he won’t be on stage. But we’ll be watching and tweeting stuff. Fun stuff. The very best stuff. Some say it’s the best stuff in the world,” the email wrote in language that apparently nodded to President Donald Trump’s famous syntax. “Join us on the Team Bloomberg 2020 Twitter account if you’d like to follow along. We’d love for you to be a part of the fun.”
Later in the night, Bloomberg shifted the focus back on the 2020 election, tweeting a video from his personal account of Trump speaking at a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“Now that my team @mike2020 has your attention, I think it’s important that you see what @realDonaldTrump said to voters in Wisconsin tonight,” he tweeted. “Battleground states like Wisconsin will decide the 2020 election. This is not a joke.”
This story has been updated to include comments from Bloomberg’s campaign.