Potential 2020 Democratic contender Michael Bloomberg is vowing to press presidential hopefuls on specific plans they would bring to the White House to address pressing national problems.
“We have some real problems. If you don’t come in with some real concrete answers, I think the public is tired of listening to the same platitudes that they get. ‘We’re in favor of God, Mother, and apple pie. And trust me, I’ll have a plan when I get there.’ No. You have to have a plan,” Bloomberg told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in an interview set to air Sunday.
“And I can tell you one thing — I don’t know whether I’m going to run or not, but I will be out there demanding that anybody that’s running has a plan,” the former New York City mayor said. “And I want to hear the plan, and I want everybody to look at it and say whether it’s doable.”
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Bloomberg emphasized the importance of having a strategy to combat climate change, adding “the presidency is not an entry-level job.”
“I think that any candidate for federal office better darn well have a plan to deal with the problem that the Trump science advisers say could basically end this world,” he said.
Bloomberg’s comments come as CNBC reported Thursday that the billionaire businessman is expected to spend upward of $100 million of his own money if he officially decides to enter the race early next year.
“Mike spent more than $100 million in his last mayor’s race. Last time I looked, NYC is a fraction of the size of the country as a whole,” Howard Wolfson, Bloomberg’s senior political strategist, told the outlet, referring to his 2009 bid for the city’s top job as an independent. Despite being a lifelong Democrat, Bloomberg first won the New York City mayoralty as a Republican, in 2001.
Bloomberg, who reregistered as a Democrat in October, also does not plan to accept contributions from outside political action committees, Wolfson said.
Bloomberg spent more than $110 million ahead of the 2018 midterm election cycle boosting Democratic candidates, including a $5 million advertising campaign launched on the eve of the Nov. 6 elections.
