Warren's allies push to include Bloomberg in upcoming debates

[BeyondGeography]

Progressive allies of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have approached the DNC to lobby for an unusual cause: including billionaire Mike Bloomberg in upcoming presidential primary debates.

The move, described to POLITICO by a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, reflects the desire of liberal activists to pin down the former New York mayor, who has avoided verbal combat with his opponents by waging a self-funded campaign that plays by its own rules. But the entreaty also speaks to progressives' growing unease with Bloomberg's relative success: After spending hundreds of millions of dollars, he has vaulted into double digits in national polls and amassed a giant staff of A-level operatives.

... Adam Green, of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said he approached the DNC last month to talk about including Bloomberg in future debates. Bloomberg’s polling meets the party’s criteria for inclusion, but his refusal to raise money from outside donors — even in minuscule increments — means he can’t meet the qualifying threshold. Green proposed altering the rules so that Bloomberg would be included. “Imagine a hypothetical world where Bloomberg bought himself 30 percent and he’s the frontrunner in the polls. Would you really not think voters would want to hear what he has to say and see him get some scrutiny on the debate stage?” Green asked.

... Monica Klein, a progressive consultant in New York who is unaffiliated with a presidential campaign, cautioned against the focus on the novelty of his campaign. “As mayor, Mike Bloomberg spent years keeping Republicans in power in New York — yet most voters just know him as this bizarre billionaire who gives out iPhones like candy," she said, in response to a story last week about his lavish campaign spending...Klein thinks it’s time to engage before it’s too late. “Last election, voters and pundits alike treated Trump with kid gloves because he was seen as an unelectable amusement,” she said. “There’s a word for people who keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2020/01/28/bloombergs-rise-sets-off-alarms-on-the-left-1256678

[patricia92243]

1. Can't make up my mind on this one. I would like to see Bloomberg in the debate, but it is not fair

to the other candidates who did not meet the criteria to stay in the race.

[NewJeffCT]

2. especially to non white candidates

like Booker, Yang and Castro that couldn't qualify for recent debats.