|
|
|
Bloomberg
to go
face to
face
against
rivals
after ad
blitz
By
ALEXANDRA
JAFFE
and
KATHLEEN
RONAYNE
apnews.com
WASHINGTON
- For
Mike
Bloomberg,
the
one-way
conversation
with
Democratic
voters
is about
to end.
By
spending
more
than
$400
million
of his
own
money
and
largely
bypassing
his
opponents
by
skipping
the
early
primary
states,
Bloomberg
has
rocketed
to
double-digit
support
in
enough
national
polls to
qualifyfor
both
Wednesday
night’s
Nevada
debate
and next
week’s
debate
in South
Carolina.
But
as
Bloomberg’s
support
has
risen,
so has
the
criticism
from his
Democratic
foes as
well as
the
broader
scrutiny
of his
past
comments
and
record
as New
York
City
mayor.
As he
faces
his
rivals
onstage
for the
first
time,
they’ve
made it
clear
they’re
eager to
take him
on.
On
Tuesday,
Massachusetts
Sen.
Elizabeth
Warren
offered
a
preview
of one
line of
attack
the
billionaire
can
expect
face to
face.
“It’s a
shame
Mike
Bloomberg
can buy
his way
into the
debate,”
she
tweeted,
“but at
least
now
primary
voters
curious
about
how each
candidate
will
take on
Donald
Trump
can get
a live
demonstration
of how
we each
take on
an
egomaniac
billionaire.”
It
will be
the
first
time
he’s
debated
in over
a
decade.
And the
first
time in
this
campaign
that
Bloomberg
will
have to
answer
before a
national
audience
for
racial
and
sexist
comments
he’s
made in
the
past.
Mark
Green,
the
former
New York
City
public
advocate
who ran
against
Bloomberg
for
mayor in
2001,
says
that
could be
tough.
“His
insulting,
wise-guyish
comments
on race
and
women
and
justice
will not
be easy
to parry
if the
moderator
or rival
frames
the
questions
correctly,”
he said.
A
new
NPR/PBS
NewsHour/Marist
poll
published
Tuesday
showed
Bloomberg
with 19%
support
nationally
in the
Democratic
nominating
contest,
a
striking
figure
for a
candidate
who has
joined
no
debates
and
competed
in no
primaries.
The
former
New York
City
mayor,
who
launched
his
presidential
campaign
in
November,
will
appear
in Las
Vegas
alongside
former
Vice
President
Joe
Biden,
Sens.
Warren,
Bernie
Sanders
and Amy
Klobuchar
and
former
South
Bend,
Indiana,
Mayor
Pete
Buttigieg.
Fellow
billionaire
and
philanthropist
Tom
Steyer
is still
hoping
to
qualify.
While
Bloomberg
is
appearing
on the
debate
stage in
Nevada,
he still
is not
participating
in
Saturday’s
state
caucus.
He’s
skipping
the
first
four
voting
states —
Iowa,
New
Hampshire,
Nevada
and
South
Carolina
— in
favor of
focusing
on the
multitude
of
states
that
vote
March 3,
Super
Tuesday.
Trying
to keep
expectations
in
check,
aides
have
repeatedly
noted in
recent
days
that
Bloomberg’s
rivals
have had
multiple
debates
to hone
their
skills
and
talking
points.
On the
campaign
trail,
he’s
still
using a
teleprompter
to
deliver
his
short
stump
speeches,
and he
rarely
takes
questions
directly
from
voters.
His
aides
have
also
emphasized
that the
former
mayor is
expecting
fire
from all
angles,
particularly
on his
status
as a
billionaire
self-funding
his
campaign
and on
the
“stop-and-frisk”
police
practice
he
employed
in New
York.
But
Tim
O’Brien,
a senior
adviser
to the
campaign,
said the
debate
will be
a chance
to
showcase
Bloomberg’s
focus
and
claims
to
deliver
on key
Democratic
issues,
like
climate
change
and gun
control.
“The
debate’s
a chance
for us
to make
it clear
that
this is
a deeply
compassionate
and
principled
man who
isn’t
just a
rich guy
on a
vanity
run,”
O’Brien
said.
Bloomberg’s
opponents
have
telegraphed
an array
of
attacks.
Biden
has gone
after
him on
issues
relating
to race,
noting
his past
comments
suggesting
ending
racist
mortgage-lending
practices
known as
“redlining”
contributed
to the
financial
crisis,
and that
Bloomberg’s
ads
often
feature
Obama
prominently,
though
the
businessman
has been
a critic
of Obama
in the
past.
Klobuchar
argued
this
weekend
that
voters
wouldn’t
want
another
billionaire
in the
White
House
and that
her
blue-collar
background
makes
her a
stronger
candidate
than the
former
mayor.
Buttigieg
said
that
Bloomberg
will
have to
answer
for
reports
alleging
he has a
long
history
of
sexist
comments
and
behavior
in his
business.
Warren
and
Sanders
have
perhaps
been
Bloomberg’s
sharpest
critics,
as both
see him
as a
useful
foil to
their
populist
campaign
messages.
At a
campaign
rally
this
weekend,
Sanders
derided
Bloomberg
for
skipping
the
early
primary
states
and
mocked
his
riches,
joking
to the
crowd
that the
businessman
is
“struggling,
he’s
down to
his last
$60
billion.”
But
Bloomberg’s
aides
say he’s
eager to
take on
Sanders,
and
they’ve
characterized
the race
for the
presidency
as a
three-way
contest
—
between
Bloomberg,
Sanders
and
President
Donald
Trump.
O’Brien
suggested
Bloomberg
will be
doing
more
than
just
trying
to
withstand
Sanders’
fire.
“I
think
you’re
going to
see us
go
toe-to-toe
with
Bernie
Sanders
on
important
issues,”
he said.
“Bernie’s
a
millionaire,
Bernie’s
got a
troubled
record
on
criminal
justice,
he
supported
the 1994
crime
bill,”
O’Brien
said. He
said
Sanders
has
previously
voted to
give gun
makers
immunity
from
lawsuits.
Sanders
has
since
changed
his
position.
Bloomberg’s
other
big
challenge
could be
maintaining
his cool
on the
debate
stage
amid
what’s
certain
to be a
volley
of
attacks
from
rivals
and
tough
questions
from the
moderators.
The
former
mayor
has a
history
of
becoming
short or
testy
during
press
conferences,
and is
known
for his
unfiltered
comments
behind
closed
doors.
To
prepare
him,
aides
have
been
holding
mock
debates
with
Bloomberg
in a
warehouse
office
in
downtown
New
York,
with
some of
his top
communications
advisers
playing
his
opponents.
Senior
advisers
Howard
Wolfson
and
Marcia
Hale are
playing
Sanders
and
Klobuchar
respectively,
while
Marc
LaVorgna
and
Julie
Wood,
two
longtime
mayoral
aides
who now
serve as
campaign
spokespeople,
are
playing
Buttigieg
and
Warren.
Bradley
Tusk,
who
served
as
Bloomberg’s
campaign
manager
in 2009,
is
running
the
debate
prep.
Green,
his
former
mayoral
opponent,
said
that
when he
debated
Bloomberg
the
former
mayor
“was
then
what he
really
is now:
apparently
calm,
confident,
competent
and able
to
memorize
enough
of an
answer
that
he’ll
get by,”
With
expectations
low,
said
Green,
no
Bloomberg
booster,
the
average
voter
“will
probably
say
‘well,
he was
OK.’”
|
|
|
|
|
|