SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters Breakingviews) - Mike Bloomberg may be taking one for his well-heeled team. The billionaire media mogul is belatedly jumping into the U.S. presidential race. Despite his data-driven proclivities, it’s hard to see a clear path to the White House. He also risks fanning anti-wealth flames, but his best bet may be to prevent rich from being a four-letter word.

Top Democratic contenders have turned billionaires into a political punching bag. Senator Bernie Sanders said such wealthy people shouldn’t exist. Fellow lawmaker Elizabeth Warren has made a wealth tax that targets households with a net worth of at least $50 million a cornerstone of her candidacy. She even has an online calculator the rich can use to compute their taxes under her plan.

Bloomberg’s lucre will be prime pickings. He made his money as a banker and then as founder of the company that bears his name, selling financial information to Wall Street in direct competition with Refinitiv, in which Breakingviews parent Thomson Reuters holds a 45% stake. Warren already has added a customized tax calculation for the former New York City mayor, after an adviser revealed on Thursday that he was officially a commander-in-chief wannabe. The numbers suggest he would pay more than $3 billion in taxes next year based on a net worth of $52 billion.

The significant sums Bloomberg spends on his campaign will provide added fodder for vilification. It has cost hedge fund founder and fellow billionaire Tom Steyer about $50 million for his run since joining the Democratic field in July. Bloomberg could easily surpass that amount.

Yet many of Bloomberg’s policies coincide with Democratic values. He has been a strong advocate for gun control laws and vowed to spend $500 million of his own money on environmental initiatives. His track record as a three-term mayor of New York also largely stacks up as a technocratic success.

As the 1% have been increasingly targeted in political rhetoric and policy proposals, the likes of JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon and Microsoft founder Bill Gates have been speaking up against the dangers of demonizing success. Bloomberg may now be in a better position to make the case.

CONTEXT NEWS

- Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is preparing to enter the Democratic presidential primary, his adviser Howard Wolfson said in a statement on Nov. 7. Wolfson added that Bloomberg believes the current field of Democratic candidates is not well positioned to defeat President Donald Trump.

- Bloomberg is chief executive officer and founder of Bloomberg L.P., a financial information services firm that competes with Thomson Reuters.

(Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Katrina Hamlin)

© Reuters News 2019