COMPTON, Calif. — Michael R. Bloomberg’s presidential campaign moved on Tuesday to exploit the chaotic outcome of the Iowa caucuses, escalating an already enormous campaign of television advertising and publicly making the case that a messy outcome in the early states opened the way for Mr. Bloomberg.
Mr. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor whose campaign is fueled by a multibillion-dollar personal fortune, conferred with advisers on Tuesday morning about the muddled results in Iowa. Encouraged by the murky outcome, Mr. Bloomberg authorized his campaign team to double his spending on television commercials in every market where he is currently advertising and expand his campaign’s field staff to more than two thousand people, strategists involved in the conversations said.
The Bloomberg campaign has been trying to chart an unprecedented route to the Democratic nomination, skipping the first four contests in February but aggressively contesting the array of larger states that begin voting in March. From the outset, Mr. Bloomberg’s advisers believed the strategy would only have a chance of working if another moderate candidate — most likely former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. — failed to emerge from February with a decisive upper hand in the race.
In an interview on Monday in Compton, Calif., Mr. Bloomberg was unusually blunt about his campaign spending strategy and his intent to seek advantages while his rivals toiled in the four early states, which have relatively few delegates needed to win the nomination.
“It’s much more efficient to go to the big states, to go to the swing states,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “The others chose to compete in the first four. And nobody makes them do it, they wanted to do it. I think part of it is because the conventional wisdom is ‘Oh you can’t possibly win without them.’”
Later, he added: “Those are old rules.”
Mr. Bloomberg hopscotched through California on Monday, trying to rally supporters on the same day early voting began in the delegate-rich state. He began his day in a Sacramento coffee shop, stopped at Fresno City College and ended at a community center in Compton.
Many of those in the crowds said they were undecided, but were drawn to Mr. Bloomberg because they believed his fortune would give Democrats the best chance to beat President Trump in the fall.
His campaign also released a new advertisement scheduled to air on cable stations nationally during Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
The spot focuses on criticism of Mr. Trump, calling the country “a nation divided by an angry, out-of-control president” and saying that the White House is “beset by lies, chaos and corruption.”
Just as he did during his campaign swing in California, the advertisement tries to portray Mr. Bloomberg as the candidate who is best equipped to beat Mr. Trump in November.
It is still possible that Mr. Biden or another candidate will wind up finishing February with a clear advantage. But the early indications from Iowa suggested that the former vice president was highly unlikely to win the state.
“It turns out that a lot of things we thought were true, are true,” said Kevin Sheekey, Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign manager.
Mr. Sheekey said on Tuesday morning that Mr. Bloomberg had set out to run a national campaign and that he would “double down on that bet, as we prepare both a Super Tuesday strategy, but at the same time, to stand up against the president in battleground states in November.”
He also said that Mr. Bloomberg was not inclined to clash directly with other Democrats, warning that such a conflict could weaken the party for the general election. But in private, Bloomberg advisers have been making intensive overtures to Democratic elected officials to seek their support, including reaching out to officials who have already endorsed Mr. Biden and other Democratic candidates.
The tone of the overtures has been diplomatic, according to Democrats who have heard from Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign, but the former mayor’s emissaries have made plain that they hope officials who are currently backing Mr. Biden will move in his direction if the former vice president flags badly in the coming weeks.
Jennifer Medina reported from Compton, Calif., and Alexander Burns from Des Moines.