As soon as Mike Bloomberg entered the race, astute political observers began wondering what historic effect his candidacy and unlimited financial resources would have on this election.

It now looks like we have an answer.

Bloomberg is helping Bernie Sanders win.

This may be unintentional, but Bloomberg has suddenly done three things that no one else has ever been ever to do for Sanders and his presidential aspirations: given him a killer instinct against a primary opponent, proven Sanders has a point about billionaire influence in politics and pushed a key gender-based attack away from his campaign.

First off, Bloomberg has finally shaken Sanders into directly attacking an opponent other than President Trump. Before Bloomberg's entry into the race, Sanders was following a familiar pattern that he started in 2016 when he didn't press Hillary Clinton on her personal email server scandal. He was repeating that tendency by refusing to even mention the corruption accusations against Joe Biden's family. That helped Biden immensely.

But it's clearly a bridge too far for Sanders to lay off the former New York City mayor, his huge campaign spending machine, and his long history of embracing Republican and conservative policies.

Sanders knows that giving a billionaire oligarch like Bloomberg a pass would destroy his own brand as a political warrior against the billionaire class.

As an added bonus, it's pushing him to do the necessary attack messaging against at least one of his primary opponents.

Anyone watching the Democratic Presidential debate in Las Vegas Wednesday night saw Sanders go after Bloomberg in ways he never did against Clinton and Biden, and it doesn't look like it's going to be a one-shot deal.

Then there's Bloomberg himself, who is providing living proof of so many of the things Sanders has been railing about for years. It's one thing for Sanders to warn about billionaires crowding out the competition, getting special treatment, and demanding an outsized level of influence in politics and the economy.