American what?! Bloomberg beats Tulsi Gabbard in her birthplace Samoa & bags first delegates... at roughly $100mn per head
After dumping a cool $500 million into the race, billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg has scored his first primary win in American Samoa, beating native Tulsi Gabbard and driving many netizens to dig out a map to find it.
With all results in, Bloomberg finished with 49 percent in the territory on Tuesday night, while Gabbard took second at 29 percent. Having passed the 15-point threshold, both candidates qualified for delegates – the only ones to do so in American Samoa – with Bloomberg earning four and Gabbard one. A final delegate there has yet to be awarded.
American Samoa Results (100% Reporting)Bloomberg: 49%Gabbard: 29%Sanders: 10%Biden: 8%Warren: 1%#SuperTuesday
— Polling USA (@USA_Polling) March 4, 2020
Apparently seeing a poor return on his half-billion-dollar investment after earning only a tiny fraction of the Super Tuesday delegates up for grabs, Bloomberg is now reportedly planning to “reassess” his campaign, despite the lonely win.
For Gabbard, a native of the small island, anything but a first-place victory came as a shock to some netizens, many suggesting Bloomberg had leveraged his billions to buy up votes in the (apparently) little-known territory.
American Samoa on a different plane of the multiverse? wtf is going on over there pic.twitter.com/Ln5Beouvtx
— Tyler🌹Gregory (@1whotiles) March 4, 2020
How on earth does Bloomberg won American Samoa where Gabbard was born there??? Interesting#SuperTuesday
— CL (@Clint28_) March 4, 2020
BREAKING: Bloomberg buys I mean wins the American Samoa caucus.
— Secular Talk (@KyleKulinski) March 4, 2020
Coincidentally, every resident of American Samoa woke up this morning with $1000 under their pillow. #SuperTuesdayhttps://t.co/pjaElRsAfT
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 4, 2020
A number of those following the race were surprised to learn that the South Pacific island factored into the US presidential election at all, sending some on an educational journey assisted by Google Maps.
THE QUESTION: Other than Michael Bloomberg, how many New Yorkers could find American Samoa on a map?
— Bob Joseph (@BinghamtonNow) March 4, 2020
Congratulations to tonight's big winner: American Samoa, which people around the world are just now learning actually exists.
— CommanderBuzzKill (@buzz_commander) March 4, 2020
Just learning about American Samoa.... now.
— Lisa (@lisadeeyoung) March 4, 2020
Millions of people -mostly millennials probably- learning today that American Samoa exists. 👇🏻 https://t.co/ivLfpEkrqp
— Leslie McAdoo Gordon (@McAdooGordon) March 4, 2020
President Donald Trump wasted little time before weighing in to declare Bloomberg the “biggest loser tonight, by far,” noting the billionaire walked away with “nothing… but the nickname Mini Mike” – coined by the president himself – and the “complete destruction of his reputation.”
The biggest loser tonight, by far, is Mini Mike Bloomberg. His “political” consultants took him for a ride. $700 million washed down the drain, and he got nothing for it but the nickname Mini Mike, and the complete destruction of his reputation. Way to go Mike!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
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