POLITICO Playbook: Bloomberg’s belly flop Presented by

Mike Bloomberg was, by most accounts, trampled at the debate. | Mario Tama/Getty Images

DRIVING THE DAY

THERE ARE TWO DISTINCT WAYS to look at last night’s debate. The view from Manhattan -- shorthand for MIKE BLOOMBERG’S staff and supporters -- is that the former New York City mayor set himself apart from the rest of the field, and that’s good enough. This is the half-a-billion-dollars-later argument that he, and only he, can take down President DONALD TRUMP.

BUT, MAN, YA GOTTA WONDER: If we broke out truth serum, lugged it up to that nice office on W. 43rd Street with all the free grub and big paychecks, how many of the meme-making BLOOMBERG staffers wish they would’ve said this about the Las Vegas debate when invited: “Eh, nah, we’re not going to get on stage with this crew. We’re good for now. Maybe next time.”

THE WEAKNESS of Bloomberg’s 10-week-old candidacy was painfully evident at the NBC/MSNBC/Nevada Independent affair Wednesday night. FOR MOST OF THE EVENING, he wore a can-you-believe-this-crap look on his face, and seemed eager to say, “Don’t concentrate on my past. Focus on the fact that I have hired smart people to work for me and I intend to win -- because that’s what I have done for my whole life.”

BUT BLOOMBERG WAS, BY MOST ACCOUNTS, TRAMPLED.

HE WAS BLUDGEONED on stop and frisk. Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.) said the United States just can’t “substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.” Sen. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) said “we need something different than Donald Trump. I don’t think you look at Donald Trump and say, we need somebody richer in the White House.” JOE BIDEN said BLOOMBERG didn’t manage “his city … very well.”

PETE BUTTIGIEG suggested Democrats should “put forward someone who's actually a Democrat” -- one of his many swipes at Bloomberg, but also at Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.), the frontrunner who is quickly running away with the race. (BUTTIGIEG seemed to be the only person who wanted to lay a finger on SANDERS in an attempt to stop his march to the nomination.)

IN PERHAPS THE MOST HEATED PORTION OF THE EVENING, WARREN pressed BLOOMBERG on just how many non-disclosure agreements he had signed. He didn’t answer. “None of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told. And let me just -- there’s agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet. And that’s up to them. They signed those agreements and we’ll live with it.”

A JOKE I TOLD. WE’LL LIVE WITH IT. Yowza.

SOME WONDERED if the Bloomberg performance was as bad it seemed. PETER HAMBY said it recalled the reaction to the Trump debates in 2016. After all, BLOOMBERG could still clean up on Super Tuesday.

BUT HERE’S A REALITY CHECK: SANDERS remains the prohibitive frontrunner. All evidence indicates that by Saturday, he will have won Iowa (almost), New Hampshire and Nevada.

SALLY GOLDENBERG and CHRIS CADELAGO: “Bloomberg bombs in debate debut”: “He rolled his eyes when Elizabeth Warren pressed him to release women at his company from non-disclosure agreements related to alleged mistreatment. He suggested he can’t simply use TurboTax, like many Americans, to crunch his billions in order to speed up the release of his tax returns. He pouted when moderators didn’t return to him on health care, muttering, ‘What am I, chicken liver?’

“Mike Bloomberg spent the past 10 weeks flooding the airwaves with ads, racking up endorsements and climbing into contention ahead of his Super Tuesday debut. And in two hours Wednesday night, he risked losing those swift gains as he stumbled through his first nationally televised primary debate.

“He was rusty. He was testy. He was out of touch. And, for a candidate often shielded by the scripted one-liners of killer campaign advisers, he was on his own — unable to hide his peevish demeanor and unable to portray himself, as his campaign has tried to do, as the clear choice to stop Bernie Sanders and beat Donald Trump.” POLITICO

-- NYT’S MATT FLEGENHEIMER on A1: “A Foil for All As Bloomberg Joins the Fray”

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HOW IT PLAYED … NYT: “DEMOCRATS HURL STINGING ATTACKS ACROSS THE STAGE … WARREN SHOWS URGENCY … Rivals Force Sanders and Bloomberg to Defend Their Records” … N.Y. POST: “Black and Bloom” … N.Y. Daily News: “Bloom Goes the Dynamite” … WAPO: “Free-for-all targets rising rivals … Bloomberg, Sanders assailed in fierce debate … A tense urgency as time begins to run out on some” … LAT: “Bloomberg takes brunt of broadsides in a testy debate”

JOHN HARRIS column: “The Nevada debate was raucous, rude and relevant” … RYAN LIZZA: “Elizabeth Warren, unbound”

SUBPLOT … AMY VS. PETE -- “Loathing in Las Vegas: Amy and Pete’s resentment boils over,” by Elena Schneider in Las Vegas: “Amy Klobuchar made sure there would be no post-debate handshake with Pete Buttigieg. After a series of cutting exchanges during Wednesday’s presidential debate, Klobuchar cut around Buttigieg without a glance in his direction as they stepped away from their neighboring podiums following Wednesday’s Democratic showdown.

“The hostility building between the two Midwestern Democrats burst dramatically into the open in Nevada, as they clashed repeatedly on the debate stage and tried to slash the momentum out of each other’s campaigns. Klobuchar and Buttigieg have fought before over their experience and their political records in past debates — but the feud took a deeply personal turn.” POLITICO

THE HARRY REID WE KNEW … REID, to the AP: “Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday said it was possible the crowded Democratic primary race was headed toward a contentious convention fight and downplayed the political dangers of a scenario many party leaders are dreading.

“‘I don’t think we’ll have one, but we could have one,’ Reid told The Associated Press in an interview days before the Democratic caucuses in his home state of Nevada. ‘We’ve had brokered conventions before, and we’ve always come up with good candidates. It’s not the end of the world. It just slows the process down.’” AP

WHERE THEY ARE TODAY … BIDEN: Will go to a CBC breakfast with Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) in Las Vegas, and then will join a call with Black Economic Alliance leaders. He has a CNN town hall in Las Vegas in the evening. … BLOOMBERG: In Salt Lake City. … BUTTIGIEG: In Los Angeles for a town hall at USC and a fundraiser. … KLOBUCHAR: Going to Colorado for an event in Aurora. … WARREN: At a canvass kickoff event in North Las Vegas. She’ll also host a tele-town hall in South Carolina.

Happy Thursday morning.

JARED ADDS TO HIS PORTFOLIO -- “White House assembles team of advisers to guide clemency process as Trump considers more pardons,” by WaPo’s Toluse Olorunnipa, Josh Dawsey and Neena Satija: “The White House is moving to take more direct control over pardons and commutations, with President Trump aiming to limit the role of the Justice Department in the clemency process as he weighs a flurry of additional pardon announcements, according to people familiar with the matter. ...

“The group, essentially an informal task force of at least a half-dozen presidential allies, has been meeting since late last year to discuss a revamped pardon system in the White House. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, is taking a leading role in the new clemency initiative and has supported the idea of putting the White House more directly in control of the process that in past administrations has been housed in the Justice Department, officials said.” WaPo

-- “The 11 Criminals Granted Clemency by Trump Had One Thing in Common: Connections,” by NYT’s Peter Baker, J. David Goodman, Michael Rothfeld and Elizabeth Williamson

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NYT SCOOP … JULIAN BARNES and MAGGIE HABERMAN: “Trump Names Richard Grenell as Acting Head of Intelligence”: “President Trump on Wednesday named Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany who quickly antagonized the establishment after arriving in Berlin in 2018, to be the acting director of national intelligence overseeing the nation’s 17 spy agencies.

“By choosing Mr. Grenell, who has little experience in intelligence or in running a large bureaucracy, the president signaled that he wants a trusted, aggressive leader atop an intelligence community that he has long viewed with suspicion and at times gone to war against. … Mr. Grenell is expected to keep his current ambassadorship as long as he is acting intelligence director, one administration official said. Mr. Grenell did not respond to a request for comment.” NYT

WAPO’S JOSH ROGIN: “Mike Pompeo and lawmakers spar over ‘deep state’ attacks in private Munich meeting”

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THE PRESIDENT’S THURSDAY -- TRUMP will visit the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at 11:20 a.m. Pacific time. At 11:45 a.m., he’ll speak at the commencement at the Hope for Prisoners Graduation Ceremony. At 1:15 p.m., he will fly to Colorado Springs. At 4 p.m. Mountain time, he’ll arrive at Peterson Air Force Base, and then will travel to the Broadmoor World Arena to speak at a 5 p.m. political rally along with GOP Sen. Cory Gardner. At 6:55 p.m., he’ll head back to Las Vegas for the evening.

PLAYBOOK READS

PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump signs water legislation and shakes hands with farmers at a Bakersfield, Calif., rally Wednesday. | David McNew/Getty Images

HAPPENING TODAY … STONE SENTENCING … DARREN SAMUELSOHN: “The Roger Stone pardon saga”

PAGING THE NRCC -- “Republican congressional candidate Jamie Berryhill compares borderless nation to a woman ‘raped and defiled,’” by The Texas Tribune’s Stacy Fernandez and Patrick Svitek: “Berryhill said he would not make similar comments moving forward, CBS 7 reported. But on Wednesday, Berryhill defended the sentiment of his earlier comments.

“‘If anyone wants to question whether or not my initial statement is offensive, I believe what everyone should be offended at is the gross assault upon our American citizens as we are being forced to endure the drugs, violence and burden being born by no borders,’ he said in a statement posted on Twitter. The Odessa business owner is one of the more serious candidates in the 10-way Republican primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland. The district is safely Republican.” Texas Tribune

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WASHINGTON INC. -- “How the Drug Lobby Lost Its Mojo in Washington,” by WSJ’s Brody Mullins and Stephanie Armour: “A growing rift between the GOP and longtime drug-industry allies is shaking up pharmaceutical policy, and for the first time in a generation, some Republicans and Democrats are joining to overhaul drug-price regulation. …

“[An] onslaught of new measures and proposals … shows the industry has lost some of its influence in Washington. PhRMA once had the muscle to block nearly any policy. When Barack Obama was president and Democrats controlled Congress, PhRMA defeated all major proposals to regulate drug prices.

“Now, voter dismay about drug prices, backlash over the opioid crisis, miscalculations by the drug industry and its lobbyists, and the populist wave that carried Mr. Trump to the presidency, are loosening Republicans’ ties to the industry and opening the door to regulation.” WSJ

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FOR THOSE STILL KEEPING TRACK … ABC’S KATHERINE FAULDERS (@KFaulders): “In audio obtained by ABC News, John Bolton said during remarks at Vanderbilt University that his testimony ‘would have made no difference to the ultimate outcome’ of impeachment and said he can ‘sleep at night because I have followed my [conscience].’ … Bolton says the House committed ‘malpractice’ and ‘made a mess’ of the impeachment inquiry, calling it ‘grossly partisan.’”

ACROSS THE POND -- “Populists seize on coronavirus to stoke immigration fear,” by Carmen Paun: “Some populist parties in Europe are seizing on the coronavirus outbreak — which has sickened almost 70,000 people and killed more than 1,700, mostly in China — to call for border closures and temporary stops on migration, two core elements of their agenda.” POLITICO Europe

A MIDEAST PEACE DEAL … REUTERS: “Israel, Palestinian Authority agree to end trade dispute”

MEDIAWATCH -- Norah O’Donnell, Gayle King, Margaret Brennan, Major Garrett and Bill Whitaker will be the moderators for the CBS News debate Tuesday at the Charleston Gaillard Center in Charleston, S.C. CBS

PLAYBOOKERS

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IN MEMORIAM -- “Frank Anderson, Former Spy Who Supplied Afghan Insurgents, Dies at 78,” by NYT’s Sam Roberts

SPOTTED at the NBC post-debate party at the Cosmopolitan: Andy Lack, Noah Oppenheim, Phil Griffin, Cesar Conde, Craig Robinson, Rashida Jones, Lester Holt, Chuck Todd, Hallie Jackson, Vanessa Hauc, Jon Ralston, Dafna Linzer, Andrea Mitchell, Kristen Welker, Janelle Rodriguez, Katy Tur, Kate Bedingfield, Scott Bixby, Leigh Ann Caldwell, David Chalian, Sam Feist, Monica Gil, Garrett Haake, Vaughn Hillyard, Xochitl Hinojosa, Richard Klein, Andrew Mamo, Mike Memoli, Dan Merica, Lis Smith, Jeff Zeleny, Maria Teresa Kumar and Steven O’Neill.

WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE -- Sondra Clark is leaving the White House, where she’s been digital marketing director, to launch a venture with Jim DeMint’s Conservative Partnership Institute to “equip and train conservative professionals and congressional staff on digital and communications tactics.”

MOVING ON UP -- Lisa Ross, president of Edelman’s Washington office, has been named U.S. chief operating officer. … Ben Williamson -- a longtime staffer for Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) -- is now his chief of staff.

TRANSITIONS -- Blair Ellis is now director of communications for the Republican National Convention. She previously was national press secretary for the RNC. … Tim Chapman will be executive director of Stand For America. He previously was executive director at Heritage Action. Announcement

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: NYT photographer Doug Mills. How he thinks the Trump presidency is going: “As a photojournalist covering the White House on a daily basis, it’s nonstop. We have more visual access to President Trump than we’ve had to any president I’ve covered. (I began my career covering President Reagan.)” Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is 78 … CBS’ Mark Knoller … Chris Cillizza, CNN politics reporter and editor-at-large … Vox’s Dylan Matthews is 3-0 … “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah is 36 … David Corn, D.C. bureau chief of Mother Jones … Michael Clemente … WSJ’s Bob Davis (h/t Jon Haber) … POLITICO’s David Cohen and Juan Perez … Andrew Hanna … Aaron Wells, partner at Smoot Tewes … Andrew Baumann … Rally’s Manny Rivera … POLITICO Europe’s Carmen Paun … David Blair … Dan Gross … Stu Spencer … Ashkon Eslami … Tim Farley, host of “The Morning Briefing” on POTUS on Sirius XM … Haley Morris, head of public affairs at Waymo … Rebecca Samuels …

… Michael Zona, communications director for Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), is 29 (h/ts Brianna Puccini and Allie Bedell) … Clarissa Chandoo, foreign policy legislative aide for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (h/t Seema Ibrahim) … Katie Frates is 28 ... Amy Spitalnick, executive director of Integrity First for America ... Jason Moyer ... Miguel Rodriguez, director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation … Scott Hobson, assistant VP for government relations at Big I NY (h/t Adam Morey) … Tamara Fucile ... Jen Finn ... Keosha Johnson ... Peter Slutsky … Matthew Slutsky ... Caleb Fisher ... Libyan PM Fayez al-Sarraj is 6-0 … Greg D’Angelo ... Scott Tyre ... Kate Henningsen ... Burke Olsen

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