Mike Bloomberg – Memphis Flyer

Couny Mayor Lee Harris and Jill Biden at Loftin Yard on Sunday.

In the last few days before Super Tuesday, local voters were beseeched to vote for three presidential candidates. Two — Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden — were represented by surrogates. Speaking for Senator Warren on Wednesday at Makeda’s Cookies and Old Dominick, was actress/activist Ashley Judd. For former Vice President Joe Biden, his wife Jill Biden, did the honors on Sunday at Loftin Yard. Mike Bloomberg spoke for himself at a Minglewood Hall rally on Friday.

Below are portions of their remarks:

Ashley Judd for Elizabeth Warren: “She is going to close the revolving door between lobbyists and government. She is going to shut down the conflict of interest that is Donald Trumps So the good people of Massachusetts notice what she did with the Consumer Protection Bureau. And they decided to elect her to the Senate. And that was quite a remarkable experience because at that time, more women had been burned alive at the stake as witches that had been elected to serve in public office in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And she was running against a popular incumbent who they said could not be beat by a woman. Sounds familiar?. But she out hustled, she out, org
JB

Ashley Judd at Makeda’s Cookies

anized and she outsmarted the ball and she walked in by seven and a half points. And that’s what we’re going to do with this. campaign and with this election.”

Mike Bloomberg: “We all know the Trump strategy: Attack Democrats and make their plans look unrealistic and affordable and undoable. . But that won’t work against me because I have the resources to defeat him. I know We can do it. But to get it done, we need to nominate someone who at the top of the ticket can build a broad coalition of rallies democrats and attracts independents and moderate Republicans. I think the Hillary campaign shows that you’ve got to reach across the aisle, and that’s what I’ve done in all three races I won…. But, look, I’m not a typical politician. I have never worked in Washington. I don’t make pie-in-the -sky promises that I can’t keep. I don’t talk until the cows come home. … I’m not someone who just yells a slogan. … If you want someone who has the resources to defeat Trump, that’s me.

Mike Bloomberg at Inglewood Hall

Jill Biden for Joe Biden: “You know, there is such power in kindness. It can pull us back to ourselves. It can build the bonds of community, and it can mend the fault lines of our broken hearts. We need a president who knows the power of kindness, we needa president who can bring this country back together again. And that’s why He has had this share of trials of tragedies, but it’s never made him feel cynical. It’s never made him want to use his power for personal gain. Instead, it’s made him more committed to serve, made him work for change, make him fight for civil rights and healthcare and gun reform. Joe has the character and the experience to turn this country around on Day One.”

A weekend meet-and-greet in Memphis on behalf of the presidential campaign of Mike Bloomberg made obvious the all-purpose appeal of the former New York mayor as a focus of anti-Trump political sentiment, and boasted at least two major endorsements of Bloomberg by local political figures.
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U.S. Rep. Cohen

Attendees filled to capacity the Midtown law office of Mike Working in Cooper-Young on Saturday. They heard 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen extol Bloomberg’s efforts as a candidate willing to lend his efforts and his financial support to a campaign to defeat the re-election of President Donald Trump. While praising Bloomberg, Cohen said he was maintaining his option to support whatever presidential nominee the Democratic Party should ultimately produce.

On hand for the affair was Greg Fischer, mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, national chairman of Bloomberg’s presidential campaign, who repeated to the crowd what had been assurances of support for Bloomberg’s candidacy made the day before by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. Fischer said Strickland could not be present on Saturday because of his need to attend two funerals.

Another outright endorser was present, however, and willing to explain his reasons to the crowd. This was newly elected City Councilman Jeff Warren, a physician who explained his reasoning this way:

“… It’s really very simple. I’ve been listening to try to see who is going to come up with the best possible solution for the health care that we need in our country. And I walked across the parking lot from my office and heard Mayor Bloomberg announce his strategy for how to do that. It makes perfect sense. You know, in red states, where we haven’t advanced the Affordable Care Act for our poorest people, he wants to federalize that, and that makes perfect sense to me….

“ Medicare takes four cents on the dollar to administrate compared to most private insurances taking 30 to 40 cents on your health care dollar to do administration. If I could pay my money for my office and get Medicare for my employees, I would like to have that as an option as a businessman in this country. I think that’s a brilliant idea.

“And if we can do that, and then work on lowering the violence that we have in our urban community and stop our young people from killing each other, which Bloomberg has developed ways to do and has done successfully in New York, we can see a blossoming of our urban communities. And I think he’s the man to do that. So I endorse him wholeheartedly, and I really think his healthcare plan is the best thing we can see in our country …”

Councilman Warren

In his own remarks, Fischer extolled Bloomberg Philanthropies, “operated over 500 cities, over 100 countries, where Mike is taking on issues that basically are getting in the way of people leaving living longer, healthier lives.”

On matters like “health care, gun safety, immigration, women’s rights,” said Fischer, Bloomberg has “not only talked about it and funded it, he’s done it.” And the Louisville Mayor pointed out the one aspect of the Bloomberg campaign most likely to appeal to Democrats at large.

“He’s running, but at the same time, he’s running 100 million dollars a day in the battleground states to make the case against Trump, not for Mike Bloomberg, for whomever the Democratic nominee is going to be. He’s got $20 million to work in those states to increase voter registration, not for Mike Bloomberg. And he said I’m going to keep all my offices open across this country, regardless if I’m the candidate or not, because we gotta beat Donald Trump.

The Bloomberg campaign, in other words, exists for its own sake, but, also and ultimately, as a de facto auxiliary to the campaign of every other Democrat running for President, and, in particular, on behalf of the party’s nominee, whoever that happens to be, right up to election day. It’s an offer that’s hard to refuse.”