Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em

Only after the results are in do you start to understand why Michael Bloomberg would spend an “obscene” amount of money in a non-race — stories like this that cement your place in history:

Mayor Bloomberg romped to a record-shattering victory last night as he steamrolled an overmatched and outspent Fernando Ferrer on his way to a second term in City Hall.

Bloomberg trounced Ferrer 59 percent to 39 percent with 100 percent of precincts reporting, obliterating the record for a Republican mayoral victory in New York City.

. . .

With his smashing victory, Bloomberg ensures himself a place in New York political lore with Giuliani and Fiorello La Guardia — Republicans who won whopping wins in the heavily Democratic city.

Of course, who among us has not from time to time considered his or her place in history?

But seriously, if the guy is a billionaire, what is a few million (er, a few million times, say, 10 or 15) . . . smoke ’em if you got ’em, right? So once he defeats his challenger by 20 points, the only question will be whether in the history books his victory will include a small ($80 million) asterisk:

And then there was the money. Lots of it.

Though he said years ago that spending anywhere close to the $75 million he doled out in 2001 would be “obscene,” Bloomberg went beyond even that massive total with at least $80 million.

Of course, in the end it begs the question: He spent $80 million and only won by 20 points? What went wrong?