If one news outlet had the manpower and mind-set to dig cynically into the many ways Mike Bloomberg is spending his money to become president, it would be Bloomberg News—if it weren’t owned by Mike Bloomberg.

Bloomberg News has always been a follow-the-money kind of news organization. It never needed a common-man theme to justify it. Mr. Bloomberg’s giant spending isn’t just buying ads, it’s driving up ad rates to make it harder for other Democratic candidates to get their messages out, it’s buying up campaign talent so they...