Yang on possible Bloomberg run: 'There are limits to what money can do'
November 8, 2019
Democratic White House candidate Andrew Yang on Friday praised Michael Bloomberg ahead of the former New York mayor’s potential entrance into the party’s presidential primary — but cautioned that the billionaire businessman would face significant headwinds in the nominating contest despite his considerable financial resources.
“I'm friendly with Mike, and he's a great philanthropist, was a really stellar mayor,” Yang, a tech entrepreneur, told CNN. “But I will say it's going to be very, very difficult for him to jump in right now and somehow replace the thousands of conversations that many of the candidates have had with voters in New Hampshire and Iowa and around the country with ad buys,”
Yang added that “there are limits to what money can do,” and predicted Bloomberg is “going to have his work cut out for him” if he joins the pack of 17 Democratic candidates competing to challenge President Donald Trump in next year’s general election.
Yang’s remarks come after reports that Bloomberg is preparing to file paperwork to qualify for Alabama’s Democratic primary ahead of a Friday deadline, maneuvering toward a 2020 run after previously announcing in March that he would not seek the presidency.
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While Bloomberg’s centrist political ideology could pose an electoral threat to more moderate candidates including former Vice President Joe Biden and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., the news of his possible campaign drew immediate criticism from the Democratic field’s two top-polling progressives.
“Welcome to the race, @MikeBloomberg! If you're looking for policy plans that will make a huge difference for working people and which are very popular, start here,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote on Twitter, including a link to an online calculator showing how much billionaires would owe the federal government under her proposed wealth tax.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also offered an implicit rebuke of Bloomberg, tweeting Thursday: “The billionaire class is scared and they should be scared.”
Source: https://www.politico.com/
