Veteran Democratic political consultant: Bloomberg can recover from Nevada debate

Veteran Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf said Michael Bloomberg can recover from his rocky debate performance in Las Vegas this week.

Sheinkopf said only a centrist like the former New York City mayor or Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) can beat President Trump in November and that other contenders should not go on the attack against each other. 

“Amy Klobuchar and Mike Bloomberg are the most logical candidates on the Democratic side… I think [Bloomberg] can recover [from his poor debate performance],” Sheinkopf said Sunday on John Catsimatidis’ radio show. 

“There were only two on that stage that were serious: One is Mike Bloomberg and the other is Amy Klobuchar. If either of them was the nominee, Donald Trump will have a competitive race.”

The remarks come after Bloomberg was hammered at the Las Vegas primary debate earlier this week, with several candidates taking him to task over his past comments about women and his defense of stop and frisk. 

“A billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians,’ and no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in her opening remarks.

“Democrats will not win if we have a nominee with a history … of harassing women and supporting racist policies like redlining and stop and frisk. … Democrats take a huge risk if we substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.”

Sheinkopf said the attacks were unwarranted, particularly after Bloomberg dropped millions of dollars to help Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections.

“I think these are the most despicable people I’ve seen in quite some time. They should be kissing Mike Bloomberg‘s cheeks, not punching him in the face. Without Mike Bloomberg, the Democrats would never have taken back to the House last year,” he said.

The former mayor has skipped the first four nominating contests in the Democratic primary race thus far. He makes his debut on the ballots of 14 states during Super Tuesday, March 3 where he hopes to make gains and gather momentum to face off against Trump.  

The billionaire has pumped millions of dollars and time deploying television ads and holding events in major markets that will be included on Super Tuesday like Texas, California Virginia and North Carolina. 

John Catsimatidis is an investor in The Hill