Mike Bloomberg will join Wednesday's Democratic debate in Nevada after a new national poll qualified the former NYC mayor, while a battle between the billionaire and the senator from Vermont grew more intense.
ICYMI: New Bloomberg Ad Blasts Bernie Bros: WATCH
Sanders opened a 12-point lead in the latest national poll: “Sanders has 31 percent support in the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist pollreleased early Tuesday, pushing him into the top spot, which had been held by former Vice President Joe Biden. Sanders's support shot up 9 points since last month's poll, following his victory in the New Hampshire primary. Biden's support, however, decreased by 9 points to 15 percent in the new survey. Biden's downturn pushed him into third place, behind former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who surged into second place with 19 percent.”
Said Bloomberg's campaign manager Kevin Sheekey in a statement: “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. The opportunity to discuss his workable and achievable plans for the challenges facing this country is an important part of the campaign process.”
Over the weekend, Bloomberg responded to accusations by Bernie Sanders that his past policies fail to generate the “energy and excitement to defeat Donald Trump” by releasing an ad featuring a montage of online threats made by Sanders supporters against rival candidates.
On Monday, according to the New York Daily News, “some prominent Sanders surrogates had shared a video from 2016 that captured Bloomberg saying ‘anybody' could be a farmer because the profession doesn't require much ‘gray matter.' Trump supporters, including the president's eldest son, pushed the same video on social media. But [Bloomberg campaign manager] Sheekey claimed the video had been taken out of context.”
Said Sheekey in a statement with the headline BERNIE'S NEW BRO… DONALD TRUMP: “The video cuts off Mike's first sentence where he is referring to agrarian society that lasted 3,000 years, not farmers today. This campaign will not sit idly by and allow these false attacks to stand without response.”
Sanders responded to the headline by tweeting a photo of Bloomberg golfing with Trump.
