Michael Bloomberg Files Papers for Alabama Democratic Primary
Category: News & Politics
Via: sister-mary-agnes-ample-bottom • 5 years ago • 221 commentsBy: By Bill Allison and Craig Gordon
Michael R. Bloomberg filed the paperwork required for Alabama’s Democratic primary on Friday, taking a first step toward a potential 2020 presidential bid, though he hasn’t announced a formal decision to enter the race.
Bloomberg submitted the documents in Alabama to meet the state’s early filing deadline of Friday. Several other states, including New Hampshire, have filing deadlines as early as next week. Alabama’s Democratic Party said he qualified for the March 3 ballot.
The former New York City mayor indicated Thursday that he is once again considering a presidential run, with an adviser saying he is concerned that the current crop of Democratic candidates will not be able to defeat President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg, 77, had considered a run earlier this year but decided instead to support Democratic efforts to regain control in Washington. Now he is open once again to running against Trump himself.
Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.
“We now need to finish the job and ensure that Trump is defeated – but Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that,” said Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson in a statement. Wolfson said Bloomberg would run on his record of serving as mayor of the nation’s largest city, building his own company and contributing to global causes through his philanthropic activities.
“Based on his record of accomplishment, leadership and his ability to bring people together to drive change, Mike would be able to take the fight to Trump and win,” Wolfson said.
Trump said Friday that Bloomberg’s candidacy would hurt the chances for former Vice President Joe Biden.
“He’s not going to do well, I think he’s going to hurt Biden actually,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “There’s nobody I’d rather run against than little Michael.”
Bloomberg’s possible entry into the race comes as the Democratic field is coalescing around four candidates, none of whom has a clear path to victory.
Biden entered as the front-runner, but has lagged in raising money and at 76, has faced questions about his age, verbal gaffes and other out-of-step comments. Elizabeth Warren, 70, and Bernie Sanders, 78 and recovering from a heart attack, are avowed foes of Wall Street and the wealthy, and have sparked concerns that their policies pull the party too far to the left. And Pete Buttigieg, 37, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is rising in popularity, but faces questions about his youth and lack of political experience.
Warren tweeted “Welcome to the race,” and suggested that Bloomberg consult her wealth-tax calculator for billionaires.
On Friday, Biden also said he welcomed Bloomberg to the race. “Michael is a solid guy, and let’s see where it goes,” Biden told reporters in Concord, New Hampshire. He added that he isn’t worried about his own standing in the race: “Last polls I looked at I’m pretty far ahead.”
“There’s nobody I’d rather run against than little Michael.”
'Little Michael' beats 'lyingpatheticcreepyidiot Trump.'
Trump may just wind up having to eat those words. Of course he would never do so in public, as his ego could not stand admitting he lost to him, and would likely call for a civil war from his rabid supporters.
But, behind closed doors, Trump would likely choke on those words on realizing that he lost to "Little Michael." And so would his rabid supporters.
I think Bloomberg should start calling Trump...Chump Change Trump. Compared to Bloomberg Trump is little more than chump change..
$56 billion vs $5 billion....LOLOLOLOL
True. And compared to Bloomberg, Trump uses other peoples money, and stiffs his creditors. Bloomberg could buy and sell Trump any day if he wanted to make a bad investment.
In your wet dreams! Zero chance in hell to beat Trump. Just what we don't need, another old white rich guy.
Oh wait Trump white guy is better than Bloomberg white guy? The only difference I see it that one made billions on his own, and can speak and is a fiscal conservative.
fake billionaire vs real billionaire
You mean, like the old, white, pretend rich guy that now sits in the Oval Office?
Do you honestly want to re-elect that bumbling buffoon? Please spank yourself with gusto.
Maybe we need to see his platform before that can be answered. Will it be naturally sweet or need a little saccharine?
Bloomberg is a highly intelligent man, who is very organized, will approach the presidency professionally, is a fiscal conservative, socially, a moderate and has a record of being effective. He is also not divisive which is a big thing to me. This nation is torn apart, and Bloomberg as a mayor, was very uniting and worked endlessly as mayor, for free, because he cares about the people, and that means a lot to me. He is also nonpartisan, and as an independent, I find that very appealing.
Right now we have Trump as the incumbent and presumptive nominee for the R's and either Warren or Biden as the likely nominee for the D's.
Warren is out of her mind (unrealistic). Biden would likely make the balance of the planet feel better about the USA but if not for the fact that Trump is his opponent, he is an unappealing candidate.
I would like (for a change) to have someone I could vote for. Bloomberg (like the current viable candidates) is older than what I would prefer, but he has the right attributes.
He's spent hundreds of millions of his fortune in his personal war on the second amendment. If he's a "moderate", everyone is.
Agreed. Why are these candidates so damn old? Sheesh. But ... I agree that Warren is out of her mind, and Bernie is way too far left as well, but Biden's age and other things make him unappealing to me as well, except when compared to Trump he looks pretty good.
Supporting universal background checks to try to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and criminals hardly makes him in a "personal war" against the second amendment. I love to shoot, but allowing people to carry without adequate training is insane, and not making valid efforts such as background checks to decrease mass shootings is just heartless.
Hi Suz!
So now I am curious. Imagine Trump (R) vs. Bloomberg (D). This race, IMO, is one where Trump could lose. I doubt he would lose any other of the potential matchups unless the economy tanks.
With the way he's been pissing people off throwing money all around the country into elections far from his home turf he's made a lot of enemies. They see him and his attempts to buy elections as the evil of big money politics.
Electoral dynamics are hard to predict — especially this early in the race. We probably at least need to see some polls after (assuming he does) Bloomberg announces his candidacy before making hypotheses.
Bloomberg would be the only viable candidate that I see in the D field who could win against Trump. Sharp, knowledgeable, genuinely highly accomplished in both the private and public sectors and an adult who does not cling to extremes.
If he added Mayor Pete to be VP, it would be a killer combo.
When Mayor Pete's name first came up I thought that with the credentials he had, Rhodes Scholar, experience in governance, well liked by his constituents, good looking, fairly young, multilingual which would please foreign leaders, he could be the one.......until he opened his mouth. IMO as VP he would taint the choice. I'm waiting for Nikki Haley - If I were an American, I would knock on doors for her.
I liked how he spoke to the people of France in fluent French from the heart after the fire at the cathedral while Trump tsk tsk'd them for not having a water dropping plane. Never mind that the weight of a water drop would have leveled most of it.
Melania Trump can speak six Slovenian, English, French, German, Italian, Serbo-Croatian.
So she says.
If she speaks five languages, so do I.
She claims that she speaks Slovenian, French, Serbo-Crotian, German, Italian and English. In reality, she most likely only speaks three languages with any fluency. She would have spoken Slovene at home and she still does with her son. Serbo-Croatian was a mandatory national language.
I can speak in 6 languages, but fluently only in one.
Yeah. In the video, she speaks only very simple French to French children, and incorrect simple Italian to Italian children.
I'm only fluent in English. I remember some high school Spanish, but not very well. I'd bet most of us know a phrase or two in multiple languages, and that appears to be what passes for "fluency" for Melania. If saying "bonjour" is enough to proclaim oneself fluent in French, then I'm trilingual, at least.
Well, you know I always refer to movies. In the movie The American President, there was an event in which Michael Douglas as POTUS, not conversant in French, had invited the President of France and his wife, who were all sitting at the same table. The French Pres. and wife were getting really bored because there was no conversation in French so Annette Bening (playing Douglas' girl friend) addressed the French people in fluent French and got everyone animated and happy again. It was from that scene that I assumed that being able to speak to foreign leaders in their own language would create a positive attitude. JFK tried to address the big crowd in Germany by saying "Ich bin ein Berliner" trying to say he was in mind a citizen of Berlin, and caused laughter because a "berliner" in German is something people eat.
However, when Mayor Pete said he would extort control over Israel's domestic policies by withholding military aid, he lost me.
Baloney, Dearest Dean. The White House had to walk back her Slovenian 'college degree ' in architecture and design when it became known that she dropped out after one semester. They also had to walk back her amazing multi-lingual capabilities after a visit to France. While it's true that she used traditional greetings (Bonjour, Je m'appelle Melania...) at the beginning of a visit to Necker Children's Hospital , she spoke English and used translators for the remainder of the visit. Fluent means fluent. Knowing how to say, "Yo quiero Taco Bell." doesn't make me fluent in Spanish. (It does make me hungry, though.)
Personally speaking, I feel incredibly sorry for Melania Trump. I don't think that she personally lied about her credentials. I believe it was done for her. It's obvious, at least to me, that she has been shoved into the deep end of the pool without her consent. It's bad enough that she has had to deal with a husband the caliber of Donald Trump. He has flaunted affairs and disgusting misbehavior during their entire marriage. At first I found it nauseating that she has spoken out in his defense, calling his accusers and the press liars and fakes and whatever else. But I have a feeling that was done for the good of the Trump 'administration', as well.
I can speak Hawaiian.... Aloha.
I agree, except that I don't feel nearly as sorry for Melania as you do.
Nor do I. But, I do very much feel sorry for her Son (since Trump does not seem to claim him other than on his taxes). He will have to live with his Mother's and Father's lusty reputations, his Father's taste for porn stars and grabbing women by their privates without their permission, and his black eye on America and it people from his inept stint in the WH, love of our enemies, and turning against our allies.
I can speak French, Italian, Spanish, and some German, Japanese, Hungarian and Cherokee. Those are in addition to English. Like you I am only totally fluent in one.
But, I've also found that I can get my point across by using street sign language in addition to what I do know and it can be enough to make up for what I may not fully know in another language.
I love learning new languages and can usually piece enough words together to get my thought across. However, I gotta be careful what English words I use, as some words in English can mean something unpleasant or nasty in another language.
I saw that movie and loved it. Both stars did an excellent job.
High spik ten lanviches, Hanglish de bast.
I speak two...English and bad English. (Courtesy of Bruce Willis/The 5th Element)
My politics? Where I am I'm totally apolitical, but I have supported the Canadian and Ontario Progressive Conservative Parties for the past 40 years.
Totally agree TiG. He would be a welcome relief to America and most of its people compared to the arrogant buffoon who now sits in the Oval office and likes to think he is the King of the world and totally above the law.
I can't wait to see which foreign country Trump tries to bully into trying to dig up dirt on Bloomberg by withholding some kind of American assistance or offering some amount of money, as it seems Trump is now afraid he can't win on his own, and can't trust his American supporters.
Ditto
Bloomberg might be the perfect candidate.
A real, white, billionaire versus a fake orange one.
He should be in jail for violating thousands of people’s civil rights with his unconstitutional stop and frisk. He’s going to be attacked for that big time and rightfully so. On top of that he’s a notorious gun grabber.
In my opinion, He should be in jail for illegally sending his goons into Virginia a few years ago on an illegal gun grab
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/nyregion/11gun.htm
The link is not working.
Better that than a psycho pussy grabber.
Ah yes, the 'notorious gun grabber.' The climax for the Forever Trumpers.
Dean, you're aware that that stop and frisk program was started under Guliani, aren't you?
He wasn't attacked for it, he was praised...
That could be but I remember the public outcry during the Bloomberg years and he defended the program. It was also racist as they targeted mostly blacks.
There is no ''could be'' about it Dean..It's a fact. The other fact is that Trump was a big supporter of stop and frisk. He is on record many times defending it and in the first presidential debate not only said it was a good thing but that it wasn't unconstitutional.
If he tries to attack Bloomberg over it he will get it shoved right back in his face.
I agree, it was racist and targeted minorities.
“I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun.”
"You know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? That’s bait.”
“I think that if you had the teacher, assuming they knew how to use the weapon, which hopefully they would, you would’ve been a lot better when this maniac walked into class, starting to shoot people.”
“I don’t want to have guns in classrooms, although, in some cases, teachers should have guns in classrooms, frankly.” (Trump repeated this process post-Parkland, saying during his meeting with survivors and parents at the White House, “If you had a teacher who was adept with the firearm, they could end the attack very quickly.” He then denied calling for teachers to be armed.)
All Trump quotes.
Bloomberg did not enact the policy Guliani did but he did use it and Trump supported both Guliani and Bloomberg's use of it..
That's a fact.
Trump fully supported it in NY and it was started under the Guliani days as well as Bloomberg. I would know. I live here.
Well, at least that gave me a chuckle, although I bet it's true since these same people listen to the NRA propaganda.
He did support it.
But it's OK for Trump to do the same thing? And his pet toad Giuliani?
At this point, I don't care who is running for the dems, they have my vote no matter who the anointed one is. Who would I personally like to see get the nomination? Mayor Pete, (if I had to pick one). As an added bonus, we would get to watch the nutters heads explode when a gay male Christian is elected.
Why would they?
Are you saying the right will exhibit the same actions as the crying snowflake left when they lose a election?
That looks like a gif of the cons crying that trump is being treated unfairly.
It's not a Gif. It is a actual Democrat crying snowflake. But you already knew that didn't you?
You have no idea what a gif image is do you?
LMFAO!
Everybody knows it means "Get In Front".
C'mon Frostie - ask a tougher one
It would be like the final scene in the movie The Fury when Amy Irving caused John Cassavettes to explode.
Bloomberg has set himself up to be the moderates insurance policy. If Biden falls on his face prior to Super Tuesday Bloomberg will be in position to pick up the pieces, assuming that Buttigieg or Kloubachar or even Harris hasnt already started to do so.
It will be interesting to see Bloomberg tack left as he begins to campaign. There is no way he will win the nomination being anti-union.
I would have to agree with that assessment to some degree. I am not sure if he will address unions or not. Unions are not an issue in NYC as they are in other states, as we have the Taylor law, which prohibits strikes of needed unions.
He's running for president. I believe Bloomberg is somewhat anti-union. He will have to significantly walk that back.
Based on what?
True. I don't think his plan included going all the way, but there will still be plenty of people that will vote for him. At the last minute, he'll drop out and announce his support of Biden. Ross Perot did something similar years ago.
He makes Trump look like a "saint" !
Here's his most important issue to come for this country !
I didn' t realize that Bloomberg has presented his platform yet, (yet in fact, he hasn't). But nice try!
Saint would be a demotion as Trump thinks God appointed him as POTUS.
You don't look at a potential Presidential candidates past record as a politician ?
Good to know.
If they’re a Democrat, it’s considered tampering with an election.
Or....According to Sanders and AOC.....buying an election.
Look how many didn't look at Trump's past, even if it wasn't as a politician.
He could totally run as a Republican. That would be entertaining.