What about Bloomberg?

[Rvaughn]

What do you guys think about Mike Bloomberg? It is my understanding that Bloomberg is qualified and will be in the debate Wednesday night. Also sounded to me like the DNC tweaked the rules to get him in. Is that right?

[Sandy]

Poll numbers and money raised have been pretty much standard qualifications for the Democratic debates. Bloomberg has qualified on both counts now.

I don't like the idea of someone with billions using their wealth to finance a campaign that is, in essence, "buying" the office. Even if I'm ideologically and politically agreeable with the candidate, I'm in favor of limiting every candidate for every office to a specific, equal budget that is small enough to require them to figure out how to get their message to their voters without relying on money.

That being said, given that the rules that allow massive self-funding and bypassing of campaign finance through the PAC's and committees, Bloomberg's doing nothing wrong. If Trump gets buried in a cataract of negative blasts like Mike is running now in all 50 states, so be it. If enough Republican senators get buried by the billions Bloomberg, Steyer, Buffett and a couple of others are giving to the DNC for the Senate campaign, maybe they won't be so supportive of Citizens United and inclined to help change the laws.

[Rvaughn]

[Rvaughn]

[Haruo]

Bloomberg and Sanders are 156 years old. VP is more important than usual under such circumstances.

[Sandy]

[Dave Roberts]

[Tim Bonney]

After last night I think Bloomberg is toast. The rest of the field made him sound like Trump with a Democratic Party member card. I mean, what is this about women having signed NDAs?

It is always dangerous to predict. But I'm predicting it will either be Bernie or Mayor Pete as the nominee before this is all over. The interesting picks will be VP running mates, particularly if Sanders is the choice in case he doesn't survive his first term.

[Sandy]

I am still not sure whether Bloomberg is in it to win or whether he just wants to have a way to spend his money on anti-Trump advertising to make sure he doesn't get elected. His ads are running everywhere, he's not on the Nevada ballot and since it is a caucus, won't come away with any voters or delegates there. He's pledged a billion dollars to the DNC which he really wouldn't have to do if he were planning on being the nominee.

The way the DNC has structured itself at this point, it doesn't appear any candidate will have enough delegates to be nominated on the first ballot if it keeps hanging around where it is now. They've eliminated the controversial "super delegate" issue so the first ballot will only be delegates elected in caucuses or primaries. I expect it will be several ballots before they pick a nominee and I think there's a possibility that it might not be someone who's on the stage right now.

Just a slight mention by the media last night that in Iowa and New Hampshire, 15% of the Republican ballots have been for someone other than Trump, mostly Weld. And that's with his campaign spending money to turn out primary voters. It's not that anyone else would really stand a chance, but if the anti-trump vote among Republican voters who are making the effort to show up at the primaries is that high, he's in bigger trouble than he wants to acknowledge.

[Haruo]

[Haruo]

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

The targeted advertising may get Bloomberg some support, but I don't think it will be enough to win him the nomination. Sanders has pulled ahead because he already had a network in place, was quite popular when he ran in 2016, hasn't changed his message and is pulling in quite a haul of cash and packing out arenas at rallies that are larger and louder than Trump's. His contributors are small donors, so raising that kind of cash means lots of active voters. It's conceivable that Super Tuesday would put him in the top spot to stay. There's a limit to the support that buying lots of advertising produces. Bloomberg will eventually have to start making public appearances and be subjected to the scrutiny of debates and questions from the media. He can outspend Bernie, but after a point, the effectiveness turns south. The smartest thing Bernie did in putting his money to work was follow the lines of the Obama turnout machine. When I went to Wisconsin to volunteer in the voter registration effort, his staffers were everywhere. We heard he's got headquarters in every county.

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

In any case, I think the two-party system we all grew up with is over and done with.

[Tim Bonney]

[KeithE]

[Tim Bonney]