Don’t Count Bloomberg Out Yet

It has become a habit – a quite annoying one – for pundits, social media personalities to declare a candidacy over just because of a stumble during a debate. That happened, again, last night. Mike Bloomberg made his first appearance on the Democratic debate stage and it didn’t go well, especially the first hour. Bloomie (that’s my affectionate nickname for him) was clearly unprepared for the savage attacks that were unleashed on him as soon as the starting question was uttered by the moderators. Perhaps, he thought that his pledge not to run any negative ads against his primary opponents would buy him some good will. It did not.

My initial reaction to the debate was: probably a good night for Joe Biden for no other reason than he’s still the safest choice. All the other candidates are a gamble for the Democrats. Bloomberg is new on the scene and needs more debate practice. I seriously doubt that Democrats want to take a chance on nominating another woman – especially given the two women still in the running. Amy Klobuchar is fine as vice presidential material but she’s doesn’t have a strong presence. Elizabeth Warren has a strong presence but lacks poise (read that she shrieks). Pete Buttigieg is simply too young and being gay makes him a very risky candidate, much more than Barack Obama ever was. (BTW where is Chasten? He seems to have disappeared lately). Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat and I believe that the Democrat donor class would rather see four more years of Donald Trump than Bernie in the Oval Office – after all Trump has shown he can be easily bought. That leaves Biden, the compromise candidate that every part of the Democrat coalition can vote for albeit without any excitement.

Whatever the shortcomings of Bloomie’s debut, he was able to generate a couple of memorable clips and his campaign quickly used them to flood social media. The first was the only blow any candidate landed on Bernie:

Not only did Bloomie hit Bernie where it hurts – his sense of moral purity – but this type of attack is catnip to the very moderate Republican voters the Democrats are trying to pull away from Trump.

The second clip has already registered over 2.6 million views and counting. It even received praise from Carpe Donktum – a Twitter account “specializing in the creation of memes to support President Donald J. Trump”:

But wait, there’s more. Bloomie also launched several broadsides and an epic take down of Donald Trump:

Is anyone still talking about Bloomberg’s woeful debate performance? Hardly. In a matter of hours, all the post-debate analysis, punditry and confident declarations were quickly forgotten. Bloomie has the resources to completely change the conversation and that is why he is a formidable opponent. Will he go all the way to the Democratic nomination? This question will begin to be answered on Super Tuesday. However, anyone declaring Bloomberg’s run over because of last night’s debate performance is making a mistake – and that includes #carnivalbarkingclown.