US Democrats see a common enemy in Michael Bloomberg
FIXATION ON THE BILLIONAIRE REFLECTS HIS RISING PROMINENCE IN THE RACE
The Democratic presidential candidates raced on Sunday to make the most of their final weekend day before the Nevada caucuses, selling their messages and tearing into their opponents.
But the rival they focused on most intently was one who isn’t even competing in the state.
“I got news for Mr Bloomberg,” Senator (Sen) Bernie Sanders of Vermont said at an event in Carson City, Nevada, taking aim at the former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, within five minutes of opening his remarks. “The American people are sick and tired of billionaires buying elections.”
In a rarity, former VicePresident Joe Biden echoed his progressive counterpart. “Sixty billion dollars can buy you a lot of advertising, but it can’t erase your record,” he said of Bloomberg in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press that aired Sunday.
Sen Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, another moderate, had similar thoughts. “I’m here getting votes,” Klobuchar said in an interview Sunday. “It’s not something where I can just — what would be the word — transport in a bunch of ads.” She called on Bloomberg to “go on the shows that every other candidate goes on, on the Sunday shows and the like.”
She added: “I don’t think I’m going to beat him on the airwaves, but I can beat him on the debate stage.”
At a forum focused on infrastructure, Klobuchar, who won the endorsement of The Las Vegas Sun last week, mentioned Bloomberg early on, referring to President Donald Trump’s comments about his height as she stood to speak. “I am the only candidate that is 5-foot4,” she joked. “I want that out there now.”
The fixation on Bloomberg, the free-spending multibillionaire, reflected his rising prominence in the Democratic race, even though he is skipping the first four nominating contests and focusing on the 14 Super Tuesday states that will vote on March 3.
As early voting continued in Nevada, some of the criticism seemed to be sticking. “Bloomberg just has bad connotations that come along with him,” Leah Garwood said as she waited in line with her husband on Sunday in Las Vegas for roughly 45 minutes to vote for a different billionaire, Tom Steyer of California. “It’s just at the back of my mind. It makes me uncomfortable, uneasy.”
Kelly Mays, an English professor who said she favoured Klobuchar and Sen Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, called
I got news for Mr Bloomberg. The American people are sick and tired of billionaires buying elections.”
Bernie Sanders
| US senator from Vermont
Sixty billion dollars can buy you a lot of advertising, but it can’t erase your record.”
Joe Biden
| Former US vice president
it “a little frightening that you can buy your way in at this late date.”
Nevada, which will hold its caucuses Saturday, is more diverse than either of the two states that have held presidential nominating contests so far. The state is determined to shrug off the conventional wisdom that any momentum gained — or hopes cruelly dashed — in the wintry, rural expanses of Iowa and New Hampshire will decide what comes after.