Michael Bloomberg's got a plan. It just doesn't make much sense.

He's skipping the debates because he's not accepting donations and thus won't qualify. That probably only helps him, because his performance at an actual debate would be terrible. Instead he's planning to use his vast cash hoard to reach voters directly. Probably with a whole lot of ads.

But even the world's best admen can't sell a truly mediocre product. And that's what he is.

Bloomberg isn't going to try and compete in the overcrowded early primaries. Instead, he's presumably hoping to take California and New York. That's probably a better bet than trying for Iowa.

Only 2 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire told Quinnipiac that they would “definitely vote” for Bloomberg, although an additional 37 percent did say they would “consider voting” for him. And in a Monmouth poll of Iowa, Bloomberg earned the support of less than 1 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers.

And his own party doesn't like him very much.

A YouGov/Economist poll this week gave him a 34 percent favorable rating and a 36 percent unfavorable rating among Democratic primary voters nationwide. And that Monmouth poll found that just 17 percent of Iowa Democrats viewed him favorably, while 48 percent viewed him unfavorably!

It's unlikely that Bloomberg will have much of an impact. But if he does, the beneficiaries will be the hard core socialists like Sanders and Warren, while Biden and Buttigieg will lose some votes. But, I suspect not a whole lot. Bloomberg is a weak candidate who won political elections by buying them in a city with a broken system and, at the time, a talentless Democrat field. It's understandable if Bloomberg sees some parallels, but, like it or not, Sanders, Warren, and Biden have their fan bases. Bloomberg doesn't and won't be able to buy one.