Mike Bloomberg is creating a parallel, unofficial party structure in case the DNC can't make the eventual Democratic nominee competitive with President Trump, Alexi McCammond and Stef Kight write.

• Why it matters: In just over a month, Bloomberg spent more than the top 2020 contenders, including Trump, for the whole final quarter of 2019 combined, according to FEC data.
• He also outspent the entire RNC and DNC.

Inside the machine: With 2,100 paid staff, Bloomberg has three times as many as Trump, five times as many as Joe Biden and more than twice as many as Elizabeth Warren, according to data the campaigns provided to Axios.

• He pays his staff more than any other 2020 Democrat, and offers housing if they have to move to New York City, according to a campaign official.
• Bloomberg has locked down big names in Democratic politics, many of whom were crucial to Barack Obama's election.

• "If you look at what happened in Iowa, it's a good problem for us to have that we are self-reliant."

• Trump is the king of Facebook ads, but Bloomberg has spent $5.7 million more than the president's campaign in the past month.
• Stories about Bloomberg have remained in the top 5 for social media interactions for the past few weeks, according to the Axios-Newswhip 2020 Attention Tracker.

• There's nothing stopping Bloomberg from topping $2 billion.