It’s an obvious power play. But what possible point could it have?

Tom Steyer spent about $1 million on political ads in the first four primary and caucus states on Tuesday – the same day he launched his bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination, according to a report.

The California billionaire, who’s been waging a national campaign to impeach President Trump, bought $1.05 million worth of broadcast ads in the biggest cities in Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina, as well as Boston, which covers New Hampshire, NBC News reported, citing data provided by Advertising Analytics.

Steyer has vowed to spend $100 million of his own money to support his presidential campaign.

Elections can be bought. But not when there’s an actual competitive field, and the candidate doing the buying has all the charisma and appeal of Mr. Limpet. Even Bloomberg figured out that he couldn’t buy the election. And he’s had some experience buying elections.

Currently, Steyer is just making staffers, consultants, ad buyers and local stations very happy. He’s also going to run up the cost of the Dem primaries which helps a guy whose first name is Donald. Currently, Trump is breaking fundraising records while the Dem clown car is spending a fortune fighting each other. No matter how much money he dumps on the field, Steyer is unlikely to make the debates.

That will leave him in the strange situation of campaigning from the outside. He’s unlikely to win donors or even polls. Will he quit then?

Or actually blow $100 million on a futile effort to hear himself talk about how the sky is falling?