Bloomberg's spot in tomorrow's Democratic debate is (mostly) good news for Bernie Sanders

CNN reports that Michael Bloomberg has qualified for for the Democratic debate in Nevada on Wednesday.

The Sanders campaign should welcome the news. Bloomberg is entering the debate on the back of a number of damning revelations in the press. His defence of stop-and-frisk policies he enforced as mayor of New York and the re-emergence of a litany of sexist remarks he has made over the years should both give Sanders plenty of ammunition to use against the billionaire business tycoon tomorrow night.

Even better for Sanders is the fact his rivals in the Democratic race have even more reason to go knives-out against Bloomberg. Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar will both be looking to retain their momentum after strong showings in Iowa and New Hampshire. But Nevada is a significantly more diverse state than the preceding two – and right now, Buttigieg and Klobuchar’s minority support is diabolical.

Bloomberg, on the other hand, has managed to amass the support of 22% of African American voters since announcing his candidacy in November, according to a Quinnipac poll from earlier this month. Ideologically speaking, it goes without saying that Bloomberg has far more in common with Buttigieg and Klobuchar than with Sanders. For that reason, Mayor Pete and the Minnesota senator – both of whom will be looking to improve minority support off the back of their centrist rivals – have everything to gain from attacking Bloomberg’s record on race in tomorrow’s debate.

Going out guns-blazing against Bloomberg should come with a warning, however. The last thing Sanders – or any of the serious contenders in the race, for that matter – wants is to give Bloomberg a reason to paint himself as a victim. As a late entrant to the race and former Republican, Bloomberg has the means to run the campaign of a political outsider in the Democratic primary. Getting attacked from all sides tomorrow could simply make the ads a lot easier to write going forward.

Detractors might point to Bloomberg’s staggering fortune and say there’s no way someone with that much money could pose as an enemy of the establishment. But Donald Trump did exactly that in 2016 with remarkable success. The only difference billions of dollars makes is that getting the message out becomes far easier. Having already spent more than $330m in the race, Bloomberg has proven this beyond doubt.

Up to this point, the Sanders campaign has proven itself remarkably astute strategically. Between its handling of the Warren campaign’s accusations of sexism last month to its perfectly-timed shift to attacking Joe Biden on social security, Sanders’ team clearly has its eye on the prize. Sanders’ rally in Washington on Monday night, in which he accurately accused Bloomberg of trying to buy the Democratic race, shows he is starting to test the waters to see how shallow the billionaire’s recent poll bounce is. Time will tell, but the Sanders campaign is taking Bloomberg seriously as a threat – and that can only be a good thing.