Yesterday, Ryan Lizza noted that all the vaguely viable Democratic presidential campaigns start with "what one close adviser to Barack Obama calls 'The Pilgrimage': the journey to the West End to meet the former president... Ostensibly the meetings are for the aspiring candidates to gain some wisdom from the last Democrat to win an open presidential primary and the presidency, but they also allow Obama to collect his own intelligence about what he and his closest advisers have made clear is all that matters to him: who can beat Donald Trump."
Sometimes he offers candid advice about his visitors’ strengths and weaknesses. With several lesser-known candidates, according to people who have talked to him or been briefed on his meetings, he was blunt about the challenges of breaking out of a large field. His advice is not always heeded. He told Patrick earlier this year that it was likely “too late” for him to secure “money and talent” if he jumped in the race. Occasionally, he can be cutting. With one candidate, he pointed out that during his own 2008 campaign, he had an intimate bond with the electorate, especially in Iowa, that he no longer has. Then he added, “And you know who really doesn’t have it? Joe Biden.”
Shhhh... no one tell LizzaThat dig at Status Quo Joe wasn't the key take-away for everyone though. Many people who read Lizza's article are chattering about the paragraph he wrote next: "Publicly, he has been clear that he won’t intervene in the primary for or against a candidate, unless he believed there was some egregious attack. 'I can't even imagine with this field how bad it would have to be for him to say something,' said a close adviser. Instead, he sees his role as providing guardrails to keep the process from getting too ugly and to unite the party when the nominee is clear. There is one potential exception: Back when Sanders seemed like more of a threat than he does now, Obama said privately that if Bernie were running away with the nomination, Obama would speak up to stop him. (Asked about that, a spokesperson for Obama pointed out that Obama recently said he would support and campaign for whoever the Democratic nominee is.)"Would you vote for Biden? Mayo? Bloomberg? To get rid of Trump, right? I live in California. I didn't have to vote for Hillary and if any of the anti-progressive candidates win the nomination, I won't have to vote for them either. And if I lived in Ohio or Florida... I don't think I would, but how can I be 100% sure? Trump really is an existential threat, on a Civil War or World War II level. That's big, even worse than the disgustingness of a President Status Quo Joe, a President Mayo or a President Bloomberg. You know what, if it was Bloomberg and I lived in Florida I know for 100% I would still refuse to vote for him. Well... 99.9%.Yesterday, David Siders noted that Bernie and Elizabeth were both railing against the arrogance of billionaires in regard to Bloomberg's bid. Anyone hear anything from Obama on this?Bernie, after a town meeting with union members in New Hampshire on Monday: "What he believes-- and this is the arrogance of billionaires: 'Hey, I can run for president because I’m worth $55 billion, and maybe I’ll take $1 billion out of that $55 billion'-- not a lot, when you’re worth that much-- and … start running a massive amount of TV ads in California and, in fact, all over this country... I don’t believe that Mr. Bloomberg is going to succeed. Because I think at the end of the day, people of this country do not want to see a billionaire buy an election, and that is precisely what Mr. Bloomberg is trying to do."Everyone I know who knows Bloomberg tells me he's a real asshole, nearly as bad a human being as Trump is and could be a worse president because he's more competent than Trump is and could get things done even if the things he would get done aren't nearly as bad as what Trump has been trying to accomplish. Holly Otterbein reminded plenty of Politico readers with short attention spans just how bad Bloomberg is. When Bloomberg boasts in his new campaign ad about how he "took charge" of New York City in the wake of 9-11, he neglects to mention how heavily he leaned "on an endorsement from Rudy Giuliani [and how he] trumpeted his support in TV advertising and direct mail, chastising his Democratic opponent for being 'no friend of Rudy Giuliani.' Giuliani is just one of many skeletons in Bloomberg’s partisan closet. As he pursues the Democratic nomination, he’ll have to explain away the millions he’s spent putting Republicans into office, including contributions backing more than a dozen current and former Republican members of Congress."
The billionaire businessman, who has switched parties several times throughout his political career, endorsed George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, contributed to John McCain and even held a fundraiser for a House GOP member as recently as last year.And that’s not all. Beneficiaries of his largess include former Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), a vigorous Trump defender, and Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, who once chaired the Senate Banking Committee.Then there’s former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)-- Bloomberg endorsed and held a fundraiser for Brown against Elizabeth Warren in 2012.“As a Democratic candidate for president, he makes an excellent Republican donor,” quipped Pennsylvania Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who has not yet endorsed anyone in the primary.Is Bloomberg's candidacy a plot to make Biden look less horrible?Though Bloomberg has also spent millions to support Democrats in recent years, some Democratic elected officials and party operatives remain bitter that he worked to defeat them up and down the ballot in the past.Aside from his contribution to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Independence USA, a super PAC funded by Bloomberg, spent money to elect Republicans such as Sen. Pat Toomey, 2012 House candidate Andrew Roraback, and former Reps. Mike Fitzpatrick and Bob Dold.New York Democrats are particularly angered by his former GOP donations, including some in the not-so-distant past. While spending about $100 million to help Democrats flip the House and win other midterm races last year, Bloomberg simultaneously donated to then-Rep. Dan Donovan, a Staten Island Republican, and held a fundraiser in June for Rep. Peter King, a Republican who represents parts of Long Island.Co-hosts were asked to collect $10,000 for King. Bloomberg also showered New York Republicans with money when he was mayor, which helped them keep control of the state Senate.“The path to win the House ran through New York: There were seven flippable seats in the state, and he supported Republicans in two of them,” said Monica Klein, a former consultant for Liuba Grechen Shirley, King’s Democratic opponent. “To come down and say he wants to be the head of the Democratic Party-- the hubris is unbelievable.”...In 2016, Bloomberg reported spending nearly $10 million to successfully re-elect Toomey in his race against Democrat Katie McGinty. Independence USA ran TV ads in Philadelphia’s collar counties that drew attention to his support of gun control legislation, helping him win over critical moderate voters.“The fact that Bloomberg was willing to throw his money into it gave Toomey a talking point to appeal to suburban voters in Philly, and ultimately one of the reasons we lost is that he outperformed Donald Trump in the Philly suburbs,” said Mike Mikus, McGinty’s former campaign manager. “I’m certain his hand in giving Mitch McConnell a majority in the Senate will be remembered by a lot of Democratic voters.”Bloomberg left the Republican Party in 2007 and registered as an independent. He voted for Barack Obama in 2008, an aide said, though he did not publicize it at the time. He wrote an op-ed in favor of Obama in his 2012 reelection campaign, and campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016. In 2018, he changed his registration to Democrat.Fetterman, who ran unsuccessfully in the 2016 Senate primary, said there is no appetite for the billionaire’s candidacy among Pennsylvania Democrats: “Absolutely none that I’ve encountered.”Over the weekend, liberal activists circulated a clip of Bloomberg speaking at the 2004 Republican National Convention in support of Bush.“I want to thank President Bush for supporting New York City and changing the Homeland Security funding formula and for leading the global war on terrorism,” he said at the convention. “The president deserves our support. We are here to support him. And I am here to support him.”Rebecca Katz, a New York-based consultant to progressive candidates, said the video is important context to understand Bloomberg.“Bloomberg’s presidential campaign is only telling one side of the story. For years, he helped the New York state GOP hold onto their Republican majority. And while he’d prefer Democrats remember his 2016 convention speech, he also spoke at the RNC for George W. Bush in 2004,” she said. “The only thing that’s been consistent about his party affiliation is that it has always been about benefiting Michael Bloomberg."
Yesterday, AOC told her supporters that "Bloomberg is launching his presidential bid. His plan? Dump piles of cash on media. Typical billionaire move. He’s spending $37 million on TV ads, and that’s just the beginning. Advisors say that Bloomberg is ready to spend up to $1 BILLION to buy the Democratic nomination and (he hopes) the presidency as well... We’re not going to defeat Donald Trump by running an out-of-touch billionaire with a history of demeaning people of color. We need a leader who’s spent a lifetime on the front-line fighting for the progressive change that the working-class people of this country deserve. Bernie Sanders is that leader. He’s spent his entire career fighting to pass Medicare for All, and to build a country with social, economic, racial, and environmental justice at its core."I can't wait to see who the first member of Congress is to endorse Bloomberg... if anyone even has the nerve to. Any guesses? It would be hilarious if it turn out to be a #NeverTrump Republican! Hilarious... but sensible.Every wonder why so many Americans don't vote?
