Clinton vows to win nomination to keep Bloomberg out of race

“I would love to see Michael do this”.

“I am a conservative”, Trump said on NBC.

Though Bloomberg initially ran for mayor as a Republican, he later became an independent, and has championed causes embraced by the left such as gun control and immigration reform, and is liberal on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, speaking on ABC’s This Week, said doesn’t think Bloomberg will get into the race unless Trump and Sanders somehow win their party’s nominations. He has already indicated that he’s willing to spend at least $1 billion of his own fortune on a campaign.

If Bloomberg actually carried any state, it would make it hard for any candidate to reach 270 votes needed to win the presidency, sending the presidential race to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the vice presidency to the GOP-held Senate. “I want to be the conservative candidate to lead the conservative party into the general election”. And I think he might very well get in the race. It would be fine. I love my people.

Bloomberg’s aides envision a potential campaign to include a series of “detailed policy speeches” supported by intense television advertising touting him as a “self-made businessman” with a strong understanding of the American economy, and a “technocratic problem-solver” who is capable of leading a successful bipartisan administration, as he did in NY. De Blasio said the comments are arrogant and show the billionaire is “not ready for prime time”. “He’s very, very anti-Second Amendment – very”. Bloomberg, the 73-year-old billionaire and political moderate, would likely face the same fate should he launch an improbable national campaign at this late date. I don’t know if he’s going to do it but I hope he does. And I know him very well.

DICKERSON: One of the reasons he would get in the race, he’s thinking, is because you’re doing so well. “We disagree on a whole lot of things, but he’s a good person and he’s a patriot”.

Other observers, however, aren’t so dismissive of a Michael Bloomberg race for the White House.

Trump further described Bloomberg as a former, and possibly current, “friend”.

“Michael has been a friend of mine. I mean it would be great if Bloomberg, I’d love Bloomberg to come in”, Trump told an audience at a rally in Muscatine, Iowa, on Sunday.

The Republican front-runner had nearly the exact same response on Sunday’s “Meet the Press”.

She told NBC News programme Meet the Press: “He’s a good friend of mine”.

Rubio added that there was little sense in making comparisons, given that it’s not clear Bloomberg will even throw his hat in the ring.