From Spanish language TV ads to taco trucks and mariachis, and even a soccer match, Democratic presidential candidates continue to court the Latino vote in the run-up to Saturday’s Nevada caucus.

On Monday at the Eldorado High School soccer field, New York City Mayor and presidential candidate Bill de Blasio did his part by making guacamole out of Michael Bloomberg.

With the “Unidos Con Bernie” soccer tournament going on in the background, de Blasio took after the multibillionaire Bloomberg, whose bankroll and television ad blitz have propelled his candidacy to the front of the Democratic field like a celebrity line-cutting at Studio 54. Although Bloomberg’s not on Nevada’s caucus ballot, his rising poll numbers have enabled him to slip onto Wednesday’s debate stage in Las Vegas.

But Bloomberg had a track record as New York City Mayor that his billions can’t obscure, de Blasio said. From the racially charged stop-and-frisk NYPD policy to sweetheart deals at City Hall, Bloomberg’s political tenure is fair game in a sport where receiving a vicious kick in the shins usually means your opponent’s aim was off.

“I’ve spent six years undoing the damage he did,” de Blasio said. “This is a guy who decided on the divisive policy of stop-and-frisk. It really tore apart the relationship between the police and the community. It denigrated young men of color for years. People in communities of color use the word ‘traumatized,’ and they mean it. Young people who not just once or twice, but dozens of times in their teen-age years were stopped and made to feel like criminals when they hadn’t done anything wrong. So that alone is unacceptable.”

And Bloomberg’s recent made-for-campaign apology rings just a little hollow.

“It’s totally not authentic,” de Blasio said, wearing a blue business suit with an open collar in a working-class neighborhood. “He was defending stop-and-frisk as recently as last year. ... He needed to deal with it so he could attempt to be a viable presidential candidate. He is absolute not sincere in suddenly having this conversion. And I think people are seeing through it.”

They’re also seeing stories of Bloomberg’s tone-deaf rhetoric and devotion to New York City’s ruling class. He’ll have a hard time transforming into a man of the people.

“He gave away the store to the wealthy and the powerful,” de Blasio jabbed. “He literally made the rich richer through a series of actions that benefited Wall Street, the real estate community, developers -- and it was constant. The homelessness crisis exploded on his watch, and he didn’t take the steps necessarily to deal with it. That’s a pretty clear pattern of serving the interests of the elite and not the working people.”

Criticism of the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat aside, Bloomberg swept past former Vice President Joe Biden into second place nationally behind Sanders in the recent NPR/PBS/Marist poll. But then $300 million in advertising buys a lot of stagecraft and name recognition.

Democrats love to hand-wring about the dark forces unleashed in the wake of the Citizens United decision. It now appears Bloomberg is showing them how it’s done.

Sanders’ formidable defender de Blasio had something to say about that, too.

“This is literally unprecedented in the history of the country,” he said. “He’s spending more than campaigns have spent all the way through a general election. He’s already spent that in weeks. It is not the way democracy is supposed to be. And I think a lot of people in this country hate the corrupting influence of the money. They don’t care if it’s one rich guy spending his money. It’s still corruption.”

But speaking of rich guys who have been spending their own money, Bay Area billionaire Tom Steyer is the candidate who really ought to be steaming. Steyer has blanketed the airwaves, crisscrossed Nevada to forward a progressive agenda, and registered legions of voters in the name of defeating President Trump.

After all that sweat equity, Steyer watched from the sidelines as Bloomberg tested his talking points on stage.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR. His newest book—a biography of iconic Nevada civil rights and political leader, Joe Neal—”Westside Slugger: Joe Neal’s Lifelong Fight for Social Justice” is published by University of Nevada Press and is available at Amazon.com. Contact him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith