BENTONVILLE -- Dealing with a major disease outbreak is something that cannot be done on the spur of the moment, Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg said Thursday. He accused President Donald Trump's administration of being unprepared for a response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The president fired the federal government's top specialists in emergency, large-scale disease control earlier in his administration and cut disease control funding, Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg came to Bentonville on Thursday for a rally, his third campaign visit to Arkansas in his blitz of states with primaries on next week's Super Tuesday. The former mayor of New York City said at the rally detailed contingency plans for a possible pandemic in New York City were complex and demanding. That was for one city, he said. The lack of any such planning and response on a national scale was obvious, he said.
"The president was briefed on the virus two months ago and buried his head in the sand," Bloomberg said during his 20 minutes of public remarks. A little less than 1,000 people attended the rally at the Record event center near the Bentonville square, event organizers said.
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"We need someone who believes in science and listens to experts," he told the crowd.
The Trump campaign responded to Bloomberg's rally appearance Thursday with a statement. "Bloomberg is out-of-touch with the Arkansas voters, who will never approve of his big-government, job killing and anti-Second Amendment agendas," the statement said. "The millions of dollars he is lighting on fire will not redirect from his abysmal record and disparaging statements towards hardworking Americans."
About the virus, the Trump campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez said, "While Democrats are determined to score cheap political points by stoking fear and division in our country, President Trump continues to take aggressive action and put the safety of American people first.
More than two out of every five delegates to the Democratic convention will be committed to candidates after the polls close Tuesday, following earlier contests including Saturday's primary in South Carolina. Fourteen states including Arkansas have their primary Tuesday. Super Tuesday contests alone account for more than one-third of all delegates awarded in the Democratic Party's primary process.
[GALLERY: Mike Bloomberg makes a stop in Bentonville » arkansasonline.com/228bloomberg/]
Bloomberg is a largely self-financed candidate and an advocate of anti-gun violence legislation. He has visited Arkansas three times, Tennessee four, North Carolina five and Texas eight among the other Super Tuesday states.
Briefly interrupted by a booing heckler, Bloomberg quipped: "Thanks for making me feel right at home." Outside, about 20 protesters chanted "No Blue Trump" and other slogans, saying Bloomberg was another billionaire trying to buy election.
Before the rally, Bloomberg said rural states such as Arkansas have suffered a crisis in health care for years.
"Rural areas have been hurting for a long time," he said. "Part of that is the cost of medical equipment and the need for more and more of it."
Providing high-tech medical testing is an increasing challenge in rural America that he can craft policies to manage, he said.
Bloomberg came to Benton County because there are more Democrats here than most campaigns realize, said Glenn Hooks of Little Rock, the Bloomberg campaign's Arkansas climate and environmental adviser. Hooks is taking a leave of absence as director of the Arkansas Sierra Club while working on Bloomberg's campaign.
"People tend to think of this as a Republican area so the Democrats here don't get a lot of attention," Hooks said. "This is a nationwide primary and their votes matter."
Benton County Democrats are heavily outvoted in local and state GOP primaries but the populous county weighs heavily in an Democratic partisan contest, he said.
More than one attendee of the rally was a Republican.
"I'm not voting for Trump," said Pat Calnan of Rogers, who said she was a Republican who voted for the president in 2016. "I thought maybe he'd work out, that Trump would do all right if we gave him a chance."
Joe Kupillas of Bentonville said he has friends and family in New York City who were very impressed with Bloomberg's tenure as mayor.
"He says what he'll do and he does what he says," Kupillas said. "It's done. That's what they told me about him."
Bloomberg is the founder and chief financial backer of Everytown for Gun Safety, which promotes anti-gun violence measures including background checks.
"He's probably the most in favor of strict gun laws of any Democrat in the race," said Rep. Denise Garner, D-Fayetteville. "I think it could hurt him here, especially with moderates."
Bloomberg addressed the gun issue before the rally: "I would make this argument to gun owners. We're not going to take away anything. But if we don't do something to stop mass murders, someday people are going to insist on something.
"Gun stores abide by the laws we have. Gun shows and internet sales don't. Why? Because gun shows and the internet didn't exist when these laws were made."
All sales outlets should abide by the same rules, he said.
Bloomberg's campaign opened a regional headquarters in Fayetteville on Feb. 10. Former Mayor Dan Coody spoke at that event. On Thursday, former state highway commissioner John Burkhalter endorsed Bloomberg and spoke at Thursday's rally. Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. has also endorsed the candidate.
The Fayetteville headquarters was picked between Maxine's Tap Room and Hugo's restaurant "because when the president's not driving us crazy he's driving us to drink," Bloomberg told the crowd.
Bloomberg's previous visits to Arkansas were both to Little Rock. He came to Arkansas on Nov. 12 to register as a candidate for president. He stopped in Little Rock again Jan. 20 to march in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade.
Bloomberg's decision to celebrate the King holiday in Little Rock eschewed the option to appear in larger Southern cities such as Atlanta, with its rich haul of Democratic delegates, or Memphis, where the mayor has endorsed Bloomberg.
Bloomberg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are the only 2020 presidential candidates to have publicly visited the state more than once. Klobuchar came to an event in Little Rock in August and attended a rally for her presidential campaign in Little Rock on Sunday.
Former U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder of Little Rock announced his support for Klobuchar. Primary rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren plans her first visit to Arkansas on Saturday for a rally in North Little Rock. Then-candidate Beto O'Rourke, a former member of the U.S. House, attended a rally in Fayetteville in August before dropping out of the race. Sen. Bernie Sanders came to Arkansas for a Walmart shareholders' meeting and protest in June but that was not a campaign visit. He met with supporters outside the meeting in Rogers afterward. Inside the meeting, he told shareholders the company should raise its wages.
NW News on 02/28/2020
This story was originally published at 1:00 a.m.