周三举行的第九次民主党初选辩论可能是迄今最具争议的一次，因为前纽约市长迈克尔·布隆伯格(Michael Bloomberg)将在本选举周期首次登台。
布隆伯格在周二达到民主党全国委员会规定的投票门槛后，有资格参加内华达州的辩论。他将与前副总统乔·拜登、前印第安纳州南本德市市长皮特·巴蒂吉格、明尼苏达州参议员艾米·克洛布查尔、佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯和马萨诸塞州参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦一同出席。
这将是彭博首次被迫直接面对他的2020年竞争对手，过去几天，几乎所有对手都加大了对这位78岁亿万富翁的攻击。纽约的政治顾问汉克·申科夫告诉记者，这些批评，从他破纪录的广告宣传到他过去的警务政策，很可能会延续到辩论阶段新闻周刊。
“你将看到的是一次试图砍倒他的行动，因为他在移动，”申科夫说。
在全国投票激增的情况下，彭博将加入辩论过程。NPR、美国公共广播公司新闻一小时和玛丽斯特周二发布的一项调查显示，他在民主党和倾向民主党的独立人士中的支持率为19%，位居第二。这比彭博社在去年12月的民意调查中的排名上升了15个百分点。
“每当有人以如此快的速度移动时，对手就会试图打倒那个人，因为他们即将结束战斗。如果他们不能在周三晚上拿下他，而去了超级星期二，一切都可能会改变，”申科夫补充道。
与他的民主党对手不同，彭博选择不在四个提前投票的州竞争。相反，他的计划是运行更多基础广泛的全国性运动以便捕捉超级星期二及以后投票的代表。
这一策略让他在对手的监视下，在爱荷华州、新罕布什尔州、内华达州和南卡罗莱纳州相互争斗。但彭博最近的崛起让他无法忽视。
这位前市长个人在全国电视广告上花费了3亿多美元，比其他民主党候选人的总和还要多。他计划在接下来的几个月里花掉自己10亿美元的财产来获得该党的提名，并击败唐纳德·特朗普成为总统。
前所未有的支出导致他的对手指责他试图“收买”选举。例如，桑德斯称支出“正是美国政治体系腐败的全部原因”Klobuchar认为彭博应该能够“隐藏在电波和巨额广告购买背后”
周二下午，参议员沃伦猛烈抨击了他，在推特上说“迈克·布隆伯格能以自己的方式参与辩论是一种耻辱”，并补充说选民们现在将会得到一个关于每个民主党候选人如何“面对一个自大狂亿万富翁”的现场演示
其他候选人则瞄准了彭博过去的政策和言论。拜登抨击了前市长实施“拦截搜身”政策，并承诺在周三就该政策与他展开辩论。但是，最近有报道称彭博过去曾发表过性别歧视言论，对此他表示，拥有一个“能够真正领导并在这些挑战中展现成长的提名者”是至关重要的
2020年2月12日，田纳西州纳什维尔，民主党总统候选人前纽约市市长迈克·布隆伯格在竞选集会上发表讲话。
自去年11月发起竞选以来，彭博社基本上一直处于攻势，尽管他的大部分攻击都是针对特朗普的。上周，两人在推特上互相辱骂，布隆伯格称总统是一个“狂欢的小丑”但是随着他的明星在初选中崭露头角，这位前市长似乎准备将这一策略转向他的民主党对手。
周一，彭博竞选团队发布了一段视频，对桑德斯和特朗普总统进行了不加修饰的对比。视频展示了桑德斯支持者对其他2020年民主党人的网络威胁。彭博社在推特上发布了这段视频，标题是:“我们需要团结起来，在11月击败特朗普。这种“能量”不会让我们到达那里。”
布隆伯格在最后一个小时获得了内华达州辩论的资格，周二达到了民主党全国委员会规定的投票门槛。他没有资格参加任何初选辩论，因为他不接受外界的竞选捐款。但是挪威船级社采用的新规则抛弃了以前需要参与的捐赠者要求。
布隆伯格的竞选经理凯文·希基周二证实，布隆伯格将参加此次活动。
希基在一份声明中说:“迈克期待着和其他民主党候选人一起上台，并说明为什么他是击败唐纳德·特朗普、统一整个国家的最佳候选人。”。“讨论他对这个国家面临的挑战的可行和可实现的计划的机会是竞选过程中的一个重要部分。”
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG'S FIRST DEMOCRATIC DEBATE IN NEVADA MAY BE MOST CONTENTIOUS ONE YET
The ninth Democratic primary debate Wednesday could be the most contentious one yet as former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg steps on stage for the first time this election cycle.
Bloomberg qualified for the Nevada debate after meeting the Democratic National Committee's mandated polling threshold Tuesday. He will appear alongside former Vice President Joe Biden, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
It will be the first time that Bloomberg is forced to directly face his 2020 rivals, nearly all of whom have ramped up their attacks on the 78-year-old billionaire during the past few days. Those criticisms, which range from his record-breaking ad campaign to his past policing policies, are likely to carry over to the debate stage, New York-based political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told Newsweek.
"What you'll see is an attempt to cut him down because he is on the move," Sheinkopf said.
Bloomberg is set to join the debate process amid a surge in national polling. A survey released Tuesday from NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist showed him in second place with 19 percent support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. It was a 15-point jump from Bloomberg's standing in the group's poll in December.
"Whenever someone's on the move at that quick a pace, the opponents will try to take that person down because they are coming to the end of the battle. If they can't take him down Wednesday night and they get to Super Tuesday, everything might change," Sheinkopf added.
Unlike his Democratic rivals, Bloomberg has chosen not to compete in the four early-voting states. Instead, his plan is to run a more broad-based, national campaign in order to capture the delegates that vote on Super Tuesday and beyond.
That strategy has allowed him to slide under the radar of his opponents as they battle each other in states such as Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. But Bloomberg's recent rise has made him impossible to ignore.
The former mayor has personally spent more than $300 million in television advertising nationwide, which is more than the rest of the Democratic candidates combined. He plans to spend $1 billion of his own fortune over the next few months to secure the party's nomination and defeat Donald Trump for the presidency.
The unprecedented spending has caused his rivals to accuse him of trying to "buy" the election. Sanders, for example, called the spending "precisely what the corruption of the American political system is all about." And Klobuchar argued that Bloomberg should be able to "hide behind airwaves and huge ad buys."
On Tuesday afternoon, Senator Warren lashed out at him, tweeting that it's a "shame that Mike Bloomberg can buy his way into the debate," and adding that voters will now get a live demonstration on how each of the Democratic candidates "take on an egomaniac billionaire."
Other candidates have taken aim at Bloomberg's past policies and remarks. Biden has slammed the former mayor over his implementation of "stop-and-frisk" policing and promised to debate him on the policy on Wednesday. Buttigieg took aim at recent reports that Bloomberg made sexist comments in the past, saying that it's critical to have a " nominee who can authentically lead and who can show growth on these challenges."
Democratic presidential candidate former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg delivers remarks during a campaign rally on February 12, 2020, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Bloomberg has largely been on the offensive since launching his campaign in November, although most of his strikes have been aimed at Trump. The two traded insults over Twitter last week, with Bloomberg describing the president as a "carnival barking clown." But with his star rising in the primary race, the former mayor seems ready to flip that strategy to his Democratic rivals.
On Monday, the Bloomberg campaign posted a video offering an unflattering comparison of Sanders to President Trump. The video showed examples of online threats from Sanders supporters toward other 2020 Democrats. Bloomberg posted the clip to Twitter with the caption: "We need to unite to defeat Trump in November. This type of 'energy' is not going to get us there."
Bloomberg qualified for the Nevada debate at the final hour, meeting the Democratic National Committee's mandated polling threshold on Tuesday. He failed to qualify for any of the primary debates because he is not accepting outside campaign contributions. But new rules adopted by the DNC ditched the donor requirement previously needed to participate.
Bloomberg's campaign manager Kevin Sheekey confirmed Tuesday that Bloomberg would participate in the event.
"Mike is looking forward to joining the other Democratic candidates on stage and making the case for why he's the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump and unite the country," Sheekey said in a statement. "The opportunity to discuss his workable and achievable plans for the challenges facing this country is an important part of the campaign process."
