Spendthrift

As City Room is reporting, Mike Bloomberg has already spent $65 million on his campaign to defeat the formidable Bill Thompson. Which leaves only one unanswered question: How much would he spend if he were running unopposed?

One commenter on the web site has a cogent response: "This level of campaign spending certainly seems like overkill. Thompson is unlikely to raise more than a few million bucks. So why does Bloomberg think he needs to spend such a massive amount? If he wants to spread his money around why not donate a sum sufficient to the Red Cross or similar to enable it to provide free Swine Flu immunizations for all New Yorkers? It would “buy” him enormous good will and publicity and actually do a social good by positively impacting public health in the City."

Now, what will the NY Times do with this perversion of its signature campaign finance issue? Stand on principal no doubt.