Upper class people tend to have a longer life expectancy. A 72 year old millionaire will be way healthier and active than a 72 year old in the projects.

Strom Thurmond was a Senator up until he was 99.

Strom Thurmond likely stayed young drinking the blood of babies, though.

Can't wait to bring marijuana policy back to the 1950's!

Thurmond's longevity in the Senate is more accurately attributed to monumentally stupid SC voters, not his health.

Michael Bloomberg is apparently strongly considering lighting some of his money on fire in a 2020 bid.

this guy wants it

https://twitter.com/SenSanders/statu...73145209065473

I don't know how this would have turned out in 2016, but if this gets any traction in 2020 it's murder for the Democrats.

The scuttlebutt seems to be that he would run as a Dem and not as a third-party spoiler. Doesn't seem like much of a concern that he would kill the Democratic chances in 2020.

Ah, then it's fine of course. Bloomberg would indeed be completely torching his money running as a Dem.

I'm not convinced that the DNC won't find a way to make sure Bloomberg becomes the nominee.

He's a lock.

The establishment would run to fall in line behind Bloomberg.

I'd be quite surprised if Bloomberg ran. He has flirted with running several times now and decided not to do it. He always faces the same problem. He isn't quite liberal enough to get out of the Democratic primary. But he pulls more from Democrats than Republicans, which makes him reluctant to run as a third party.

He also would find it impossible to feign enthusiasm for populism, which makes this a bad time for him to run for president.

He would be a shocking contrast to Trump. As billionaires go, he has very little in common with Trump. Bloomberg is a low-key technocrat, whereas Trump is a bombastic idiot who actively avoids engaging with the facts.

And Bloomberg has 50 times as much money as Trump, which I'm sure would drive Trump nuts.

I realize that the Bloomberg talk has come up repeatedly in the past with no run being launched, but I guess that doesn't lead me to any strong conclusion that he won't run. If he's always taken an interest, and he's particularly offended by Trump, that might be enough to finally get him into the arena.

I'd just as soon he keep sitting out, but if anything I might lean toward thinking he actually gives it a go this time.

It's tough for me to think of a worse plausible D candidate for 2020 not named Hillary Clinton than Michael Bloomberg.

Do you mean this purely in terms of chance of winning, or in terms of having objectionable politics while leading the D ticket?

(I'm guessing the former given the Hillary comparison, but it still seemed an open question.)

The former.

Seriously, how many people would be legit excited about a Bloomberg candidacy?

I'm honestly worried about the latter as well, but I'll be rooting for the D candidate no matter who it is. (I say "rooting for" because LOL at my Vermont vote mattering in the slightest)

I'm sure he is offended by Trump, but he won't run unless he is convinced that his candidacy will reduce (or at least not elevate) Trump's chances of winning in 2020. He wasn't convinced on that point in 2016, which is why he didn't run. The only caveat is that I don't know what he would do if he were convinced that Bernie otherwise was a shoe-in for the Democratic nomination.

If Bloomberg wants to run he should primary Trump and make his only issue how he has more money and makes better deals. Make America Greaterer Again.

It's ****ing 2016 all over again JFC.

Yes, we will have an actual billionaire instead of a pretend billionaire. It will trigger the cons! And his border wall will be for real, not a fake one. Plus, he'll run on means-tested kiddie concentration camps with healthy lunch programs.

this is genuis

With this attitude Dems are going to get Trump reelected in 2020. You cant expect a candidate to have the perfect position on every issue.

Joe Kennedy is a worthy inheritor of his grandads wing of the Democratic party. We should focus on helping the poor and middle class. Thats how we win national elections. Look at the film and photos of the people along the railroad tracks bringing Bobby Kennedy's body home. Every race, income level represented.

These social wars, PC correct issues play right into Trumps plans. They may get a base excited but we must move this country forward. Income inequality is a threat to our democracy.

Everything Trump has done has been a bad deal for the poor and middle class. We need to offer a better vision. Focus on the economics and not grabbing pussys.

This is very important and doesn't get talked about enough. In a two party system it's critically important (if you want to win elections, especially at a national scale) to engage in coalition building. The right in the US is good at this - their politics are so cynical and calculating that the individual factions don't care who they have to get in bed with, so long as they get a voice in setting policy. The left is in a really bad place where each faction of the left is obsessed with purity tests and a confident belief that their issue, and their issue only, must have priority over everything else. It's very self defeating because instead of having a bunch of people agreeing to compromise so that they mostly get what they want, they tear each other down so that none of them get anything they want.

The Dem establishment is weirdly obsessed with building compromise with the ****ing Republicans when they should be focused on selling the message of compromise among the various factions of the left. They are so bad at unifying groups that should be able to work together. It's sad and frustrating.

The right is worse though. They primary and rhino the hell out of each other.