Michael Bloomberg’s Very Bad Weekend
Author: Greg Valliere
November 11, 2019
BLOOMBERG’S TRIAL BALLOON IS A LEAD BALLOON: All of his billions may not be enough for Michael Bloomberg to win the Democrats’ nomination. Enthusiasm is more important than money, and most of the party’s voters responded with a resounding Bronx cheer this weekend.
AMY KLOBUCHAR, always spot-on and often very funny, said it best: It was like Bloomberg decided that none of the Democrats running for president are good enough. The resentment of Bloomberg’s ego is palpable; if anything, he has unified the party against him and raises the possibility that Bloomberg will get the hint and end his quixotic campaign in the next few days.
WE TALKED WITH MANY DEMOCRATS THIS WEEKEND, most of whom agree with us that Bloomberg would make a very good president. But everyone we talked with thinks time has passed him by; he will turn 78 this winter. His flaws? Four stand out:
1. The party has shifted far to the left and billionaires are the enemy (along with Wall Street, which is reviled).
2. Bloomberg will skip the first several primaries, infuriating the party’s base and the candidates who have slogged through Iowa for months.
3. Bloomberg’s views on issues like “stop and frisk” are anathema to the left and minorities.
4. Bloomberg is not a great campaigner — he’s a mediocre speaker who tends to scold.
WE WROTE LAST FRIDAY that Bloomberg had a 25% chance of winning the nomination but we need to walk that back. It’s more like 15%; the party will become increasingly angry if he tries to spend his way to victory, as he did in New York.
THE SHOCK WAVES THIS WEEKEND produced two conflicting bottom lines. There was sympathy for Joe Biden, who has run a surprisingly gaffe-free campaign in Iowa, yet there was a sense that if Bloomberg weakens Biden, Elizabeth Warren could benefit. How ironic — Bloomberg may have helped a candidate who would like to soak him with a huge wealth tax.
WE’LL TAKE A CAREFUL LOOK at Biden in this evening’s Town Hall on CNN at 9:00 ET. He usually gets a grade of B in these types of events, and that might be enough tonight. Biden is still the very shaky favorite to win the nomination, which is more than can be said of Bloomberg.
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A SOMBER DAY, it always was for our grandparents and their parents — on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the Great War ended. We offer sincere gratitude to those who serve on our behalf.
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