Former New York Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg has for the first time qualified for a Democratic Presidential Debate after surging in the latest national poll.
Bloomberg, who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars of his personal fortune to fund his campaign and an extensive advertising blitz across states, garnered 19% support nationally, placing him second among democratic voters and behind front-runner Senator Bernie Sanders who garnered 31% support. Bloomberg met the requirements set by the Democratic National Committee to be among the six candidates debating in Nevada on Wednesday.
For a candidate to qualify for the Las Vegas Debate, they either must have secured at least one delegate from the previous two contests in IOWA or New Hampshire or must have cleared the 10% threshold in at least four national polls approved by the DNC or received 12% in two single-state polls in South Carolina or Nevada where the next two contests are being held. This change in the qualifications has thus allowed the mega-rich Bloomberg to join the debating fray along with five others.
“I’m here to tell you how deeply committed I am serving as your partner in the White House. But first, I need your help to get to the White House. And I think that’s one of the important things we can do. The most important job I’m going to have is to defeat Donald Trump this November,” sais Bloomberg.
The latest NPR. PBS NewsHour and Marist poll has Sanders leading the pack at 31% nationally followed by Bloomberg at 19% and who has eaten into former Vice President Joe Biden’s early front-runner status. Senator’s Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar and Mayor Pete Buttigieg make up the top six. Qualifying for the first debate will surely make Bloomberg a target for his rivals who have yet to have the opportunity to engage him directly as Senator Bernie Sanders explains.
“We say to those billionaires who are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to support candidates who represent the rich and the powerful, today we say to Mayor Bloomberg, we are a democracy, not an oligarchy. You’re not going to buy this election.”
Joe Biden, who’s seen his candidacy as a centrist in this race dwindle, also took aim at the New York billionaire.
“60 billion dollars can buy a lot of advertising, but it can’t erase your record. There’s a lot to talk about Michael Bloomberg. You all are going to start focusing on him like you have on me, which —I’m not complaining— like you have on me the last six months. You’re going to focus on him. His position on issues relating to the African-American community from stop-and-frisk to the way he talked about Obama.”
Bloomberg formerly entered the race in November – comparatively quite late compared to his opponents. He’s skipping the first four voting contests focusing his advertising dollars on states that will vote on March 3rd when one-third of all state delegates are up for grabs on an election day known as Super Tuesday. A point not lost on Senator Amy Klobuchar.
“I am asking you for your support. I know I don’t have the biggest bank account. OK. You know that because some other people may be running more ads. But boy, since what happened at that debate stage in New Hampshire, literally by the next day, we had raised over two million dollars from regular people online.”
Bloomberg has spent in the region of 300 million dollars on ad buys to date and has vowed to spend upwards of 1 billion dollars to secure the Presidency for the Democratic candidate whether he is the nominee to face President Donald Trump or not.
“He’s a lightweight. He’s a lightweight. You’re going to find that out. He’s also one of the worst debaters I’ve ever seen. And his presence is zero. So he’ll spend his three, four or five hundred million dollars, maybe they will take it away. Frankly, I’d rather run against Bloomberg than Bernie Sanders because Sanders has real followers,” added Klobuchar.
What’s clear ahead of Wednesday’s debate is that Bloomberg will have a bulls-eye on his back from his ability to wield so much influence by virtue of his personal wealth or his policies or utterances as businessman and a three-term Mayor of New York City; in particular the racially biased police policy of stop and frisk which disproportionately targeted minorities who are also a key voting bloc in any Democratic Primary and previous misogynistic comments directed at women.
But it’s Vegas and Bloomberg’s all in for now so all bets are on.
