There are very few things on this planet that Michael Bloomberg cannot buy. Private jets, knighthood, Republican Congressional victories—their costs are droplets in a $59 billion sea of wealth. He will soon spend as much as $1 billion of that fortune on a long-shot presidential bid, an unprecedented sum that's allowed him to forego many of the traditional motions of campaigning.
But there remains one priceless gem that even the richest man in New York cannot acquire: El Bloombito. The pitch-perfect parody Twitter account, which began skewering the then-mayor's mangled Spanish pronunciation back in 2011 and has mounted a welcome come back of late, is not for sale. That hasn't stopped Bloomberg from trying.
On Wednesday, his campaign reached out to the woman behind the Twitter account, Rachel Figueroa, with a vague proposal.
"Hi Rachel! I'm a producer with Hawkfish," the operative wrote, referring to the Bloomberg-founded tech company that's been handling his digital presence. "We are working with the Mike Bloomberg campaign on editorial content and we wanted to reach out because we are super interested in working with your Bloombito parody page to create content."
Figueroa, a 33-year-old mother of two living in Staten Island, said it was the first direct communication from the Bloomberg world she'd ever received. "My first reaction is surely this isn't real," she told Gothamist/WNYC on Thursday. "Then my second reaction was, 'Oh this is real. Yikes.'"
It's not clear what sort of content the campaign hoped to create, as Figueroa politely declined the offer before more details were shared. She was particularly surprised, she said, as Bloomberg has previously told those joking about his accent to "get a life."
"I think they are trying to have some semblance of control over El Bloombito's content," she said, noting that the account was briefly suspended after Bloomberg announced his run for president. (It was later restored, but Twitter's explanation has been "inconsistent and confusing," she noted.)
While it seems likely that she would've been paid for the partnership, Figueroa said she has no interest in working for a candidate, whose potential nomination leaves her "low-key horrified." As Miguel Bloombito, she offers a funny and derisive caricature, knocking not only his Spanish accent but his hubris and extreme wealth. In real life, she worries that he is looking to sidestep the primary process and effectively buy the nomination.
Stu Loeser, a Bloomberg spokesperson, confirmed that the campaign had tentatively reached out to El Bloombito, though he declined to divulge details of the proposal. "These are unusual times and all kinds of people are coming together to help Mike win," he said.
It's not the only unusual development in the 77-year-old's candidate's online identity. During this week's Democratic debate, the actual Bloomberg 2020 account unleashed a bizarre series of attention-grabbing tweets, ranging from a photo of the candidate's face on a meatball to speculation as to how many batteries he might fit in his mouth. When reporters inquired as to whether he'd been hacked, the campaigned explained: "Our social team is trying something fun tonight."
Despite inciting universal groans, the strategy worked, insofar as it provided a ton of earned media to a candidate who is not known for his ability to engage with millennials. Figueroa suspects a similar motivation is playing into the campaign's decision to reach out to Bloombito.
"He's coming to the realization now – you see it with his apology for stop-and-frisk – that the people that he didn't like, the people he wanted to ignore and tell to 'get a life,' he needs those people to vote for him."
Still, the Bloombito creator isn't confident that her target will be able to reshape his public persona anytime soon. "I feel like if I'm your Twitter Plan B, you really shouldn't be president."
