Michael Bloomberg buys more ads and increases campaign staff in response to Iowa chaos

Billionaire presidential hopeful nixes 'old rules' while snubbing key early-voting states in race to the White House

Mike Bloomberg’s decision to enter the Democratic primaries late — snubbing Iowa — appears to have temporarily paid off for the billionaire presidential hopeful after the state's caucus results were delayed in a historic controversy.

The former New York City mayor was reportedly encouraged by the developments on Monday night as officials from Iowa’s Democratic Party were forced to withhold the official results from the first-in-the-nation caucus, initially citing “quality control checks” on data transmitted by a new election app used at statewide precinct sites.

Mr Bloomberg, who has self-funded the entirety of his presidential campaign and already greatly outspent all other candidates in advertising, told his aides to double his current spending on TV commercials after the Iowa caucus results were thrown into a state of chaos, according to the New York Times.

The billionaire also ordered an expansion of his presidential campaign’s field staff to over 2,000 people, the newspaper reported, following a meeting the candidate had with his strategists.

As the rest of the crowded field of presidential candidates flock to New Hampshire after the shocking Iowa caucus night — in which a clear winner has still not yet been reported — Mr Bloomberg was campaigning across California, reassuring voters about his late entry in the jam-packed race.

He also described the idea of campaigning heavily in crucial early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire as “old rules” in an interview with the New York Times.

“It’s much more efficient to go to the big states, to go to the swing states,” he said. “The others chose to compete in the first four. And nobody makes them do it, they wanted to do it.”

Mr Bloomberg said the other candidates were acting on what he called “conventional wisdom” surrounding the electoral campaign process.

The billionaire has focused squarely on Donald Trump in his pitch to voters rather than addressing the other candidates, attacking the Republican incumbent over allegations of corruption and incompetence.

Mr Bloomberg was set to release a new advertisement during the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night in which he reportedly says the nation is “divided by an angry, out-of-control president” who administration was “beset by lies, chaos and corruption”.

The two released duelling advertisements during the Super Bowl on Sunday, spending an estimated $10m (£7.7m) each on the coveted advertising spots while attacking each other in a war of words. Mr Trump dubbed the former New York City mayor "Mini Mike" on Twitter and claimed he was "part of the fake news" while Mr Bloomberg's campaign hit back in a response calling the president a "pathological liar".