Even a flawed human being, like me, might be disappointed to settle for an imperfect candidate to represent our political party. While no one is perfect, no one is more flawed than what we have in the White House now.
I’ve said this before; I’d like to build my own candidate, taking qualities from each, but that’s not going to happen. So my question is what is driving your vote? Are you planning to vote for the person whose promises best match your ideals, or will you vote for who you think is most likely to beat Trump? I’m torn.
The field has narrowed this week since Andrew Yang and Senator Michael Bennett dropped out.
Who is left?
Billionaire philanthropist, Tom Steyer, and Russia’s choice, Tulsi Gabbard, are still in the race bringing up the rear.
Numbers among the top six fluctuate weekly, but there is one consistent trend. Late entry, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s popularity is steadily increasing.
The ninth Democratic primary debate will take place on February 19 in Las Vegas, three days before the Nevada caucuses. Rules to qualify for this debate are different than previous debates. Apparently, they’ve been changed to give Mike Bloomberg an opportunity to take the stage.
Five candidates have qualified so far: Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders, and Warren.
Qualifications for past debates included a mandate that the candidates have a predetermined number of financial donors, but because Bloomberg is funding his own campaign, not accepting donations, he would never qualify for a debate under the old rules. This debate still has the most severe requirement criteria so far. Bloomberg has yet to qualify regardless of the change, but there’s still time.
Other candidates are not happy that Bloomberg is “buying his way into the election,” but if elected he will not owe anyone anything. Isn’t that what we progressives want, to take the money out of politics? In a true democracy, politicians should work for their constituents, and not owe favors to special interest donors, like the NRA, big pharma, or the evil Koch and Mercer sect.
Bloomberg’s candidacy is a dichotomy. Il est très riche. He’s a billionaire politician and funding his own election. That makes him his own man, which is good, but by this standard, only billionaires would govern, and that’s not what we want. We want people governing us who are like us to look out for our interests.
What are the requirements for qualification in this debate?
- Candidates are required to meet either a delegate threshold or a polling threshold.
- To meet the delegate threshold the candidate must have allocated at least one pledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention from either Iowa or New Hampshire.
- The polling threshold: 10% or higher in four polls, which can be national polls or Nevada and/or South Carolina single-state polls, or 12% in two of the aforementioned state polls.
- These” polls” can’t be just any polls. This is where the math becomes too complex for me, so I’ll quote medium.com: “In order for a poll to qualify, it must be sponsored by one of 14 qualifying polling sponsors, which include organizations such as The Associated Press, NPR or The New York Times. The poll must be publicly released between January 15 and February 18 at 11:59 p.m.”
- This is the tricky part: The candidate’s weight and age multiplied by the month they were born must equal 2020- unless there was a solar eclipse, in which case the above numbers should be divided and that total must result in a 46- (POTUS)
*The paragraph is not true.
In my opinion, the fact that Mike Bloomberg is currently polling in third place can be attributed three facts:
- His ads only attack Donald Trump.
- Bloomberg is a party hopper: a lifelong Democrat who switched parties in 2002 to run for mayor in New York City. He was New York’s Mayor, and a Republican, from 2002-2013. After leaving office he became an independent, and not until 2018, did he rejoin the Democratic Party. He is a true moderate. His votes will come from Biden, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar supporters. (Sanders and Warren are fighting over the liberal vote.) Because he’s been a Republican, he’s likely to get the anti-Trump Republican votes. Bloomberg has donated to politicians of both parties.
- Unless you lived in New York you don’t know much about Bloomberg. This is the honeymoon period. We haven’t seen him debate, so he hasn’t had a chance to disappoint us.
Who is Mike Bloomberg?
I don’t know, but here are some facts:
- His net worth is $61.8 billion.
- He grew up middle class, with a bookkeeper father and a mother who worked as a secretary.
- He is one of the youngest Eagle Scouts in history earning his badge at age 12.
- His father died when he was in college.
- He worked his way through college, Harvard Business School.
- His work experience began in an entry-level position for a technology information firm, working his way up, but was laid-off at the age of 39.
- Like everyone who is laid off at 39, he took it as an opportunity to start a business and amass $66 billion.
- He’s 78 today, February 14, 2020
- He’s an Aquarius. (That fact is for the millennials.)
- He has been known to travel by subway.
The good things he did in New York (this is from his website):
- He turned around a broken school system.
- He drove down crime to record lows, took on the scourge of illegal guns, and reduced incarceration.
- He spurred economic growth that led to the creation of 400,000 new jobs.
- He introduced new anti-poverty programs that became national models.
- He created new parks, investing in arts and cultural organizations, and pioneered ambitious public health initiatives, including a ban on smoking in all indoor workplaces.
- He launched policies that raised air quality to the highest levels in fifty years and increased average life expectancy for New Yorkers by three years.
- He injected new opportunities into neighborhoods that had been left behind. He made major investments in new mass transit and other critical infrastructure.
- He led the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, the creation of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, and the revitalization of Lower Manhattan – which today has more residents, businesses, and visitors than ever before.
The Bad:
- Stop and frisk- which he reversed before leaving office, and has apologized for.
- An audiotape exists in which he makes derogatory statements about the black community. (I haven’t heard them yet.)
- Apparently, during a blizzard, he only cleared snow in Manhattan – leaving Burroughs buried and roads impossible for ambulances to traverse.
- His demographic is so not helpful. He’s a man, (it’s past time for a woman,) an old man, white and rich.
Bloomberg has said that he will financially support whoever the Democratic nominee is. He hates Trump as much as we do. I’ve attached a link to a video of Colbert interviewing Bloomberg.
No other candidate can compete with GOP advertising funds, but can we trust a former Republican to hold onto our Democratic values?
MikeBloomberg.com
A lot from Lydia 