DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF)- Wednesday night will be the first time Democratic Presidential Candidate Michael Bloomberg will share the stage with the other candidates at the Democratic Debate in Las Vegas.
SMU Political Professor Cal Jillson says he thinks Bloomberg will be prepared to make himself known. “He’ll likely survive and will field some questions that are very uncomfortable for him and I think what he’ll say is that he has said some unfortunate things a long time ago and that’s not what he feels now,” said Jillson.
Jillson said the big thing that will help him is that the heat will also be on Bernie Sanders because he’s leading the race. “A new poll in California has Bernie doubling up everyone else so most of the candidates on the stage will see Bernie as at least as much of a threat as Bloomberg and both of them will be the focus of a lot of charges and attacks,” said Jillson.
Bloomberg will likely be criticized for “buying his presidency”, having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on advertisements. Former UTA Professor and political science expert Dr. Alan Saxe said this is Bloomberg’s time to make a good impression and answer questions carefully.
“All eyes will be on him tonight as everyone will jump on him from Elizabeth Warren, certainly Bernie, and they’ll say ‘you can’t buy this election’ and what he should say is ‘you already bought this election,” said Saxe.
Saxe said a lot of young people will be voting for Bernie Sanders and he will likely win the nomination. “He’s going to give them free marijuana, free public education, wipe out their student debt and give them free medical care…what else do they want,” said Saxe.
The two hour debate will being at 6 p.m. PT on NBC and will feature six candidates:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
- Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
- Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
