What were the factors that led Mike Bloomberg to win the Democratic caucus in American Samoa?
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Another interesting result was that Gabbard won more votes than Sanders and Biden combined. Speculation: being Samoan helped.– Andrew GrimmMar 12, 2020 at 7:24
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1 Answer
Most likely it boils down to something he did that likely no other candidate did: pay attention to them
The Bloomberg campaign said Monday it has seven full-time staff located in American Samoa. They are also running television ads, targeted radio ads and targeted digital and print ads across the islands, according to the campaign.
That attention earned him a key endorsement
Bloomberg received the endorsement of Samoan Chief Fa’alagiga Nina Tua’au-Glaude ahead of Super Tuesday.
This area is remote to the US and it only carries 6 delegates. Also, the people of American Samoa are not generally US citizens, and thus cannot vote in the general election.
answered Mar 4, 2020 at 23:45
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40Most candidates have limited resources, and have to ask themselves "Will I get more delegates by putting these staffers in American Samoa, or in California?". The Bloomberg campaign did not have to make those trade-offs. Mar 5, 2020 at 1:08
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9As a side note, it seems weird that Bloomberg would target 6 American Samoa votes, but not Iowa.– user29681Mar 5, 2020 at 4:37
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13Bloomberg got in too late to qualify for Iowa. Hence the Super Tuesday push, which he just barely qualified for. Mar 5, 2020 at 4:49
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15Residents of US territories cannot vote in the general election whether they are US citizens (e.g. Puerto Rico) or not (American Samoa). Mar 5, 2020 at 9:43
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6On a side note, Bloomberg received 175 votes in American Samoa, i.e. only 25 voters per full-time staffer on the ground. If the ratio was the same in contiguous USA (I know: it is not), he would have had to hire several millions of staffers to get a shot at the nomination: enough to drain even his enormous fortune !– EvargaloMar 6, 2020 at 7:16