Bloomberg Makes Chicago Campaign Stop

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The presidential primary season is ramping up.

And on Wednesday, Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg hit Chicago, but not before his ads did.

CBS 2 political investigator Dana Kozlov reports, with Bloomberg's wealth and other campaign war chests already overflowing,  this could be the beginning of a record breaking campaign cycle.

Six weeks after officially announcing his run for president, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is hitting the campaign trail hard. One stop: Olive Harvey College. It's the first presidential candidate to campaign here in 2020.

"I hope you'll join me because this really is an election that we cannot afford to lose," Bloomberg said.

One thing the billionaire Bloomberg can do is afford to run. He pledges he'll take no donations, funding his campaign himself. He's already running ads on Chicago television, including CBS 2, rare before Super Tuesday.

And it's likely just the tip of the campaign cash iceberg.  According to a New York Times article, Bloomberg spent 102 million dollars on his 2009 run for mayor, the last race he ran.

What he's spent so far, not yet reported to the Federal Election Commission. But it has the potential to Trump - yes, pun intended- the amount of money other candidates have raised to date.

Who are the other top fundraisers to date?

According to the latest FEC figures, President Donald Trump has $83.2 million in his war chest.  Democrat Bernie Sanders has $33.8 million followed by fellow Democrat Elizabeth Warren's 25.7 million.

And the Iowa caucuses are still almost a month away.