With less than three months to go before the Iowa caucus kicks off the 2020 race, the field may be getting some new competition. Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is said to be preparing to enter the race, which would make him the 18th Democratic candidate.
But some of the remaining contenders may think an expanding field of candidates is a move in the wrong direction. Cory Booker’s press secretary, Sabrina Singh, told Cheddar on Friday, “I don’t know that the campaign needs another Democrat in the race.”
But another Democrat it may have, and a very wealthy one. Bloomberg, worth about $52.4 billion, according to a Forbes estimate, could be a major threat to former Vice President Joe Biden.
Singh said, “We really need someone out there that can unite the country, that can build a multiracial coalition.” Some, including Singh, question if Bloomberg is the man for that job.
Bloomberg had toyed with the idea of a 2020 run earlier this year but seemed to bow out due to Biden’s strength. As Biden falters, Bloomberg may see a chance.
Singh said the Booker campaign is mainly focused more on running a successful campaign, whether or not another contender enters the mix.
”What Cory [Booker] brings to the stage is very different than what Bloomberg brings,” said Singh. Booker “is the only candidate in this race that still lives in a low-income community: Newark” she added.
“We’re not going to mold our message to Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren,” she said. “We’re going to keep running a race that we believe, that we are very confident in and see our way through Iowa and beyond.”
The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed the nomination of Christopher Waller for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, placing another of President Donald Trump’s picks on the Fed’s influential board after a string of high-profile rejections.
IBM security researchers say they have detected a cyberespionage effort that used targeted phishing emails to try to collect vital information associated with a U.N. initiative for distributing coronavirus vaccine to developing countries.
President-elect Joe Biden has swung behind a bipartisan COVID-19 relief effort. That comes as his top Capitol Hill allies cut their demands for a $2 trillion-plus measure by more than half.
Peter Rawlinson, CEO of electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors, joined Cheddar to discuss its new plant in Arizona and hopes for a more supportive policy on EVs from the incoming Biden administration.
The health agency also announced new guidelines that shorten recommended quarantines after close contact with someone infected with coronavirus. Now people can resume normal activity after 10 days, or seven days if they receive a negative test result.
The Transportation Department issued a final rule Wednesday covering service animals. The rule says only dogs can qualify, and they have to be specially trained to help a person with disabilities.
The head of the United Nations is calling on countries to end what he calls a war on nature and instead embrace a future without carbon pollution triggering global warming.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, discusses a wide range of current topics regarding the COVID-19 pandemic with Cheddar.
An influential government advisory panel says health care workers and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line when the first coronavirus vaccine shots become available.
Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud and has seen nothing that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
