Super PAC Attack on Sanders Backfires: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- In a twist worthy of O. Henry, a Democratic Super PAC’s attacks on Bernie Sanders helped him raise more money in a day than they spent criticizing him.

The Democratic Majority for Israel placed $800,000 worth of TV ads asserting the Vermont senator would be unable to beat President Donald Trump in November because of a recent heart attack and his progressive platform.

But in the first 24 hours after a Democratic Super PAC released TV ads attacking the Vermont senator, he raised $1.3 million, as first reported Wednesday in the New York Times.

The Democratic Majority for Israel is led by Mark Mellman, a Democratic political consultant whose past clients have included former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer and dozens of other congressional Democrats. His group, which registered with the Federal Election Commission on July 2, will disclose its donors for the first time on Friday. -- Emma Kinery and Bill Allison

Candidates Ask Revealing Questions in Senate Trial (5:24 p.m.)

Presidential candidates are used to answering questions. It’s not often they get to pose them.

But as the Senate trial of President Donald Trump comes to a close, the senators running for the 2020 Democratic nomination put questions of the lawyers on both sides by submitting them in writing to be read aloud to the chamber by Chief Justice John Roberts. What they asked was revealing.

Ever the Harvard professor, Elizabeth Warren posed a tough hypothetical: “If Ukrainian President Zelensky called President Trump and offered dirt on Trump’s rivals in exchange for hundreds of millions in military aid, that would clearly be bribery and an impeachable offense. Why would it be acceptable, and not be impeachable for the reverse, that is for President Trump to propose the same corrupt bargain?”

Reflecting her past as a prosecutor, Amy Klobuchar asked a procedural question: “I was on the trial committee for the last impeachment trial in the Senate - Judge Porteus. During that time, we heard from 26 witnesses, 17 of whom had not testified in the House. What possible reason could there be for allowing 26 witnesses in a judge’s trial and none in a president’s trial?”

And true to form as a populist firebrand, Bernie Sanders went for the jugular by mentioning the testimony of U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland: “Gordon Sondland testified that President Trump told him ‘No quid pro quo.’ Why should anything Trump says have credibility, given his lies?”

Bloomberg Won’t Try to Qualify for Debates (4:38 p.m.)

Michael Bloomberg reaffirmed Thursday that he won’t be accepting contributions just to qualify for the Democratic presidential debates.

The Democratic National Committee has required candidates to have a certain number of individual donors to qualify for debates, and Bloomberg is self-funding his campaign. The DNC has said candidates could make the Feb. 7 debate in New Hampshire by winning at least one pledged delegate in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, but the former New York mayor is not competing in the early nominating contests.

“I always said I’d like to participate in the debates. But the rules are the rules, and it’s up to the Democratic Party to set those rules,” Bloomberg told reporters after a speech in Washington, according to The Hill.

Some Democrats who believe that Bloomberg is avoiding scrutiny by not participating in televised debates with other candidates are pushing the party to allow the billionaire on stage.

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a group that’s endorsed Elizabeth Warren, has said he’s proposed that the party add an exception for candidates who exceed some of the other criteria, such as doing very well in a number of recognized polls. Amy Klobuchar also called for Bloomberg to debate. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. -- Mark Niquette

Klobuchar’s Campaign Wasn’t Looking to Go Viral (1 p.m.)

Remember that time Amy Klobuchar went viral online? Neither do we. And her campaign manager said that’s no accident.

Even as candidates like Andrew Yang are building their campaigns out of viral moments, the Minnesota senator has avoided that path, aiming instead to slowly build support in Iowa the old-fashioned way, Campaign Manager Justin Buoen said Thursday.

“Our campaign has never been built on the need for a viral moment in order to carry us through to the end,” Buoen said at a Bloomberg News breakfast roundtable in Des Moines. “It has been built on a steady organizing principle from the beginning – organize, organize and get hot at the end.“

Klobuchar joked about that slow-and-steady strategy when controversial talk show host Bill Maher asked about her path to the Democratic nomination in October.

“Well, my path, first of all, starts with this show because they say I haven’t had a viral moment,” she said. The interview did not produce any viral moments.

Bloomberg Super Bowl Ad Focuses on Gun Control (7:47 a.m.)

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is featuring a Texas mother who lost her son to gun violence in his $11 million Super Bowl ad competing with one from President Donald Trump to highlight his push for gun-control measures.

Bloomberg’s ad shows Calandrian Simpson Kemp describing how her son, George Kemp Jr., had aspirations of playing professional football but was shot after an altercation in 2013 when he was 20 and didn’t survive. “Lives are being lost every day. It is a national crisis,” Kemp says in the ad.

The former New York mayor and Trump each booked 60-second spots in the Super Bowl costing $11 million, according to Advertising Analytics, which tracks political ads. Bloomberg said in a statement he chose to focus on gun safety because it would be a top priority for him as president, and Kemp’s story shows “urgency of this issue and the failure of Washington to address it.”

Meanwhile, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser endorsed Bloomberg on Wednesday in part because of his position on guns and is expected to appear with him at an event Thursday, the campaign said. -- Mark Niquette

COMING UP:

Some of the Democratic candidates will debate again in New Hampshire on Feb. 7.

The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses will be held Feb. 3. The New Hampshire primary is Feb. 11. Nevada holds its caucuses on Feb. 22 and South Carolina has a primary on Feb. 29.

CNN will host town halls featuring eight presidential candidates in New Hampshire on Feb. 5 and 6.

(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

--With assistance from Mark Niquette, Emma Kinery, Bill Allison and Magan Crane.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Teague Beckwith in Des Moines at rbeckwith3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Max Berley

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