Bloomberg Struggles Under Debate Fire From All Sides

The New York Times reports:

Mike Bloomberg has spent over $400 million during his ascent in the polls for the Democratic nomination. But money apparently couldn’t save the billionaire from a widely panned performance at last night’s presidential debate. It was like “the gap between an influencer marketing campaign and putting an actual product in front of reviewers,” as Nilay Patel of The Verge put it.

A hot topic was the issue of nondisclosure agreements that some former female employees of Bloomberg L.P. signed after accusing Mr. Bloomberg of harassment and discrimination. Mr. Bloomberg refused to release those women from the N.D.A.s, calling them “consensual” — then appeared flustered by further attacks by Ms. Warren and others.

Prediction markets quickly soured on Mr. Bloomberg’s performance. His odds of securing the Democratic nomination have tumbled about 10 percentage points in 24 hours, to about 19 percent, according to ElectionBettingOdds.com.

This debate so far:

Bloomberg: I should have just bought every commercial during this shit-show and stayed home

Sanders: Watch me yell until a faulty heart would have burst to prove I’m healthy!

Warren: I will bite the head off a live bat if any of you people f*** with me

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) February 20, 2020

You know, Mike, you can still be a hero by funding voter registration and a massive negative ad campaign against Trump.

Just sayin’.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) February 20, 2020

Bloomberg got trapped into arguing that it’s tough being a billionaire because of the paperwork. He is not good at this.

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) February 20, 2020