Granderson: Democratic victories in Michigan show the way to 2024
I thought it would be easy for us to get along. I thought he’d be kind and friendly and give me a chance. I didn’t know that, in the process of doing this interview, I would be forced to confront the reality that, as his campaign manager, Mike Schmuhl found his way to the back of my mind.
By Mark R. Guarino
I had just interviewed Michael Bloomberg in Miami for a story he published in the New York Times. I had only been there for a few hours, but it was clear that I was the only reporter there. The New York Times had sent out a photographer and a reporter, but the Times had not sent out a photographer and reporter to interview Bloomberg.
The interview was for a headline-grabbing story by Bloomberg titled “On the road to the presidency,” which was billed as a “how-to” guide for Bloomberg trying to become the next president. In it, Bloomberg says he’s been traveling “around the country” trying to “meet people and learn and take notes.”
I walked the interview room from the elevator to the newsroom to interview Bloomberg. I arrived expecting to interview him. What I got, and what I learned as we walked, was a different Bloomberg.
He was cordial to me, he was polite and friendly to me, but he didn’t seem to want to talk much. When I asked him how he was, he said he was “fine.” And when I asked him how he would vote in the Democratic primaries, he said he would vote for Hillary Clinton. I tried not to ask if he was fine, but I sensed he wasn’t.
It was clear that he was focused on the Democratic primary, and not the next election, the one after that. This was the last of the five debates that he