Radio Recap – Is Bloomberg Ready for a Primetime Debate?

He got what he wanted. Mayor Bloomberg will be on the debate stage tomorrow night.

On today’s Jay Sekulow Live we discussed tomorrow night’s Democrat debate in Nevada, with Mayor Bloomberg now qualifying to participate.

It will be his debut on the debate stage. Is he ready for primetime as he’s about to go head to head with the other Democrat candidates for President?

A new poll has Mayor Bloomberg, as we predicted, showing him actually in second place nationally. That was enough to get him in the next debate. That debate will take place tomorrow night at 9pm Eastern. I think this is huge for the 2020 election. It’s huge because Mayor Bloomberg can show tomorrow that he’s a real player, not just with money but with substance. It can show that he can take punches, and believe me, he’s going to take a lot of them. You can already imagine the things Senator Sanders and the other candidates are going to say about Mayor Bloomberg. We’ll see tomorrow night if he can take the heat.

What remains to be seen is what the other candidates like Vice-President Biden, Senator Klobuchar, or Mayor Buttigieg do about Mayor Bloomberg in tomorrow’s debate. They are competing for the “moderate” lane, or the progressive lane as we’ve said before on the show. This campaign is a battle between the progressives versus the socialists.

This is the moment for Mayor Mike Bloomberg to show that he’s for real, that he’s not just a rich guy who’s been successful in business that can run ads, spend a lot of money, and have very buttoned down, put together events. He needs to show that he can get on the debate stage and throw the punches. In the past when you see the videos of him speaking, he has not been so compelling. However, this is a different stage and maybe a different Mayor Bloomberg that’s running for President.

ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett made the following point:

It’s going to be must see TV. This is his opportunity to become the alternative to Senator Sanders. It’s my view that his Super Tuesday strategy has worked a little too well for him because I don’t think he wanted to be on this debate stage. Of course he’s going to say that he wants to be on the stage.

In reference to the money he’s spending, yesterday Senator Bernie Sanders said the following about Mayor Bloomberg in a campaign speech:

Now Mr. Bloomberg, like anybody else, has a right to run for President. He does not have a right to buy the Presidency.

You can hear further analysis and the entire episode here.