The Nevada Presidential Primary Debate

Bloomberg camp confirms candidate will debate – if he qualifies
By Paul Steinhauser | Fox News | one hour ago

With Wednesday’s presidential primary debate in Nevada fast approaching, Mike Bloomberg remains one poll shy of making the state.

But, his campaign on Monday confirmed to Fox News that if he were to qualify, the former New York City mayor and billionaire business and media mogul will take part in the primetime showdown.

Bloomberg’s reached 10 percent or higher in three national polls that the Democratic National Committee has approved. He would need one more to make the stage, and would have until 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday night to get that poll.

The two other ways to make the stage – reaching 12 percent or higher in two Nevada caucus or South Carolina primary-approved polls, or winning a delegate to the national convention in the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses or last week’s New Hampshire primary – have been out of picture for Bloomberg, since he’s not on the ballot in any of the early-voting states.

So far, Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden have made the stage.

But, the other billionaire in the race – environmental and progressive advocate Tom Steyer – has failed to qualify. He has remained three national polls shy – or two Nevada or South Carolina polls short – of making the stage. And, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii has been even further from meeting the thresholds.

Earlier this month, the DNC scrapped the individual donor threshold for candidates to qualify for the debate. Since Bloomberg has been self-funding his White House bid, he essentially had been shutout from making the stage. The move by the DNC – which opened the door to Bloomberg – sparked criticism from many of his rivals.

More at https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bloomberg-campaign-debate-if-qualifies

Temple wrote:

I want Bloomberg on stage..
I'm liking him.
Warren is done-
She is not, in any way, presidential.
Warren looks spindly, frail, weak.
She does not have a commanding appearance.
And her squeaky Voice is horrible to my ears!

I fear for Biden, but most likey he will rise.

All those old fuks, for crying out loud
80 years old when life expectancy is 73?
they are too near death.

I would like the young Pete.

More need to drop out.. quickly.

Bloomers is 78 yrs old
WTF is in yer haid?

louie wrote:

Bloomers is 78 yrs old
WTF is in yer haid?

I know-- he's too old..
I simply want an exciting fight
or something interesting debate..
hopefully, he'll liven it up..

I haven't watched a full debate, so looking at this one.

5 takeaways from the Democratic debate in Nevada
Christopher Wilson, Senior Writer,Yahoo News • February 19, 2020

The quickened pace of the Democratic presidential primary brought six candidates together in Las Vegas on Wednesday night for the ninth debate of the cycle, just days before Nevada holds its caucuses. It marked the first presidential debate for former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has avoided the early states but couldn’t avoid his competitors’ fire on the debate stage. Whether it was Bloomberg’s presence or the understanding time might be running out for some of the campaigns, this was the most contentious Democratic debate of the cycle by a wide margin.

Here are five takeaways from the Vegas debate:

1. Knives out

Since the Democratic debates started back in June, they have been largely cordial and focused on policy. But on Wednesday night, with delegate-rich Super Tuesday less than two weeks away and the sense that Sen. Bernie Sanders might be pulling away from the pack, the candidates unloaded on one another. Many presidential contenders had protested the elimination of the donor requirement that would have likely kept the self-funding Bloomberg off the stage, but they seemed to relish the opportunity to go after the billionaire who has been blanketing the airwaves of Super Tuesday states with ads.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren led the attacks against Bloomberg but also worked to contrast her record with the others on stage. The long-simmering hostility between Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar boiled over multiple times. Sanders, meanwhile, dealt with questions about democratic socialism, his health troubles and his aggressive supporters, which his opponents have tried to turn into a campaign issue.

2. A rough debut for Bloomberg

“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against, a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians,’ and, no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren to open the debate, the beginning of what could easily be described as a pummeling of Bloomberg.

Joe Biden hit on Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk policing policy that disproportionately targeted minorities and on his comments calling Obamacare “a disgrace.” Sanders pointed out that Bloomberg endorsed George W. Bush in 2004 and said his personal fortune, which is estimated to be roughly $60 billion, was immoral. “Let’s put forward somebody who’s actually a Democrat,” added Buttigieg.

Bloomberg pushed back, but his worst moment came in a discussion of the nondisclosure agreements the many women who had sued him and his company for sexism had signed. Under pressure from Warren and Biden, Bloomberg refused to say he would dissolve the agreements and used some indelicate language in describing the situation.

“We have a very few nondisclosure agreements, none of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told. These were agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet and that’s up to them,” he said, adding, “They were made consensually and they have every right to expect that they will stay private.”

3. Aggressive Elizabeth Warren

Warren was solid in the New Hampshire debate earlier this month but far from spectacular this time out, saying afterward, “I just didn’t say enough, didn’t fight hard enough, didn’t tell you how bad I want this and how good we could make it if we just come together.” But it would be difficult for an observer of the Las Vegas debate to say that the Massachusetts senator didn’t fight hard enough on Wednesday.

Warren was Bloomberg’s major antagonist. At one point, the former mayor’s Wikipedia entry was edited to say his “cause of death” was Warren. She also criticized the health care plans of Klobuchar and Buttigieg and criticized Biden for some positive comments he made about Sen. Mitch McConnell while serving as vice president. But Warren was not always on offense, and she defended Klobuchar for forgetting the name of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during an interview this week, saying that slipping on a name one time doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand policy.

From a fundraising standpoint, Warren’s night seems to be a success, as her campaign announced they had raised over a million dollars in under two hours. A potential problem for Warren? Early voting has already started in a number of states, including Nevada, meaning many cast ballots before seeing this performance.

4. Klobuchar and Buttigieg throw down

One of the consistent subplots of the primary thus far has been the battle between Klobuchar and Buttigieg for the moderate Democratic vote. Standing next to each other Wednesday night, the pair went at it over their records, experience and aptitude. Buttigieg pushed Klobuchar on her votes to confirm Trump-appointed officials and judges.

“If you’re going to run on your record in Washington, then you’re going to have to own those votes, especially when it comes to immigration. You voted to confirm the head of Customs and Border Protections under President Trump, who is one of the architects of the family separation policy,” Buttigieg said in reference to Klobuchar’s vote to confirm Kevin McAleenan to head the CBP. McAleenan later became the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security. After the exchange, Klobuchar said, “I wish everyone were as perfect as you, Pete.”

Earlier in the evening, Buttigieg criticized Klobuchar for forgetting the name of the Mexican president. “Are you trying to say that I’m dumb — are you mocking me here, Pete?” Warren shot back. “I said I made an error. People sometimes forget names. I am the one that has ... the experience based on passing over 100 bills.” Klobuchar also hit Buttigieg on his failed run for Indiana treasurer in 2010, the former mayor’s only attempt at state-wide office so far.

5. Bernie rolls on

Sanders has had a good week in the polls, as a number of national surveys showed him stretching out double-digit leads over the field. He’s looking formidable in South Carolina and Nevada, potentially giving him popular vote victories in the first four primary states.

While other candidates made attempts to go after the frontrunner, Sanders escaped relatively unscathed. Buttigieg attempted to paint him as polarizing early in the debate,  but Sanders responded by saying it wasn’t polarizing to fight for the working class. He faced questions about releasing his health records and attacks from some of his supporters on a Nevada culinary union, but Sanders pushed back. Bloomberg tried to paint him as a hypocrite for being a socialist who owns three homes, but it remains to be seen how voters will interpret that attack from someone whose net worth is roughly 25,000 times that of the Vermont senator.

Sanders was also the only person to commit to stating that the person who arrived with the most delegates at this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee should be the nominee, even if they fall short of a first-ballot majority. The others said they supported letting the process play out, which could involve superdelegates voting on a second ballot if no candidate can secure a majority of pledged delegates via the primary process.

Democratic debate: Bloomberg rivals line up to attack billionaire
By Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter
3 hours ago

In a slugfest of a debate worthy of Las Vegas, billionaire Michael Bloomberg came under attack from all sides.

The field of candidates for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination has been shrinking for months, but on Wednesday night in Nevada, the debate stage had one significant new arrival.

For the first time since he launched his unconventional, money-suffused campaign in November, the former New York mayor directly faced off against his opponents.

And they nearly took his face off, rhetorically speaking. Here's how the two-hour fight for the right to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in November's election went down.

Everyone v Bloomberg

Right out of the starting gate, candidate after candidate took turns taking shots at the newcomer to the contest. It was the political equivalent of an incredibly lopsided tag-team wrestling match.

Bernie Sanders wasted no time highlighting the mayor's support of a stop-and-frisk New York City police policy that was heavily criticised by civil rights activists.

Elizabeth Warren brought up derogatory comments Bloomberg is reported to have made about women and the private agreements he has made to settle sexual harassment and hostile workplace lawsuits.

"Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another," she said, in an attempt to tie Bloomberg to Donald Trump.

Amy Klobuchar accused him of hiding behind his TV adverts, while Joe Biden highlighted his past criticism of Barack Obama's healthcare reform.

Meanwhile, Pete Buttigieg used one answer to go after both Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders, who it should not be forgotten is leading the national polls at the moment.

He warned that if Sanders and Bloomberg are the only candidates left standing after the next few rounds of voting, Democrats will be left with two polarising figures - "a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil and a billionaire who thinks money is the root of all power".

"We shouldn't have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out," he added.

All of Bloomberg's opponents had their attack lines rehearsed and ready to launch, and Bloomberg at times appeared to struggle to keep up.

He apologised for his stop-and-frisk policy, saying that he didn't realise how harmful it was to his city's black community. He stood by his decision not to drop the nondisclosure agreements that keep details of the lawsuits against his companies private, adding "None of them have accused me of doing anything wrong, except maybe they didn't like the joke I told."

That solicited groans from the audience.

It's been more than 10 years since Bloomberg has participated in any kind of political debate. On Wednesday night, he dove headfirst into the deep end of the pool. The American public will soon have a chance to decide if he sinks or swims.

Everyone v Sanders

The Sanders campaign team may insist that the man who has made a career of being a political outsider should never be considered a front-runner for the presidential nomination. But what else do you call someone who leads the national polls, has the best fundraising numbers and the boasts a vast, experienced campaign organisation?

And Sanders learned on Wednesday that when you're leading the pack, everyone can see the target on your back.

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, took the opportunity to slam the Vermont senator on the hostility his supporters sometimes show on social media - and what Buttigieg said was his campaign's tolerance of them.

"I think you have to accept some responsibility and ask yourself what it is about your campaign in particular that seems to be motivating this behaviour more than others," he said.

The sharpest swipes, not surprisingly came from Bloomberg - who was perhaps relieved he could regain his footing and go on the attack. Early on, he said that there was "no chance" Sanders could beat Donald Trump. He followed it up by suggesting Sanders' political theories had been consigned to history's dustbin.

"We're not going to throw out capitalism," he said to Sanders. "We tried that. Other countries tried that. It was called communism, and it just didn't work."

Sanders told Bloomberg that was a "cheap shot," adding that his democratic socialism is not communism.

Even Warren, who usually pulls her punches against her fellow progressive, had a few sharp lines on Sanders' healthcare plan.

Past front-runners have seen their fortunes fall eventually, as the attacks gained ferocity. Sanders benefits from being at the top at the right time - as the primary voting is underway. If he wants to stay on top, he's going to have to earn it.

Everyone v Everyone

With the primaries in full swing, it is desperate times for many of the candidates. The debate was two-hour proof of just how tense things are getting.

Warren is normally a placid debater, but facing sagging poll numbers and a poor result in New Hampshire, she went on the attack against pretty much everyone, positioning herself as a compromise between the moderates and Sanders.

"Look, Democrats want to beat Donald Trump but they are worried," she said. "They are worried about gambling on a narrow vision that doesn't address the fears of millions of Americans across this country who see real problems and want real change. They are worried about gambling on a revolution that won't bring along a majority of this country."

Warren's performance may leave her supporters wondering what might have been if she had showed this kind of fire before New Hampshire - and how much they'd love to see this Warren face off against Donald Trump.

Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg spar.

Speaking of the moderates, one of the most vicious series of exchanges was between Klobuchar and Buttigieg. She accused him of mocking her intelligence. He said she was belittling his mayoral experience.

"I wish I were as perfect as you, Pete," Klobuchar said with barely concealed contempt. The two did not shake hands when it was all over.

In the end, the debate may leave the field as muddled as it was going in. Given his relative strength, Sanders will probably leave Las Vegas with his momentum intact.

Bloomberg, the real wildcard, may find some of his newfound supporters wondering how to reconcile his slick appearance in his ever-present commercials with the sometimes halting, tin-eared man on stage.

Biden and Warren both showed some fire they hope will rekindle their campaigns before it's too late, while Klobuchar and Buttigieg might be satisfied seeing the other consumed by flames.

In six days, they'll get to do it all again in Charleston, South Carolina. At this rate, security might want to screen the participants for hidden weapons.

Full Transcript:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/full-transcript-ninth-democratic-debate-las-vegas-n1139546

What a clown show that was. The only one that cums across as even marginally presidential is pete.
Snapper bloomers got his ass handed to him, Warren is still ranting like an institution escapee, Bernie was close to a red faced stroke, Joe is practicing his get tuff act, Amy was ready to kill that hottie asking questions.

The winner was President Donald J Trump.

As former Vice President Joe Biden prepared his closing statement at the Nevada Democratic primary debate on Wednesday night, protesters began to yell “You deported 3 million people.”

Bloomberg declared Trump the winner of last night's debate.

Even most left wing media agreed with him.

directorate wrote:

Bloomberg declared Trump the winner of last night's debate.

Even most left wing media agreed with him.

It's certainly true but bloomers said it as a revenge shot to the others.

"I like Justin Trudeau and Pete."

Black face and testicle face.
DOH

louie wrote:

"I like Justin Trudeau and Pete."

Black face and testicle face.
DOH

blackface is the only way to portray a black person..
Imagin;
a white person costume/whiteface, portraying MLK.

Anyway- it's no longer politically correct.

'' Trudeau is good, very good..

Temple wrote:

'' Trudeau is good, very good..

Last I heard, Trudeau is Canadian, and therefore is not running for office in these United States.

Temple wrote:

///

I like Justin Trudeau and Pete.

Trudeau????

You really are an idiot.