Democracy 2020 Digest: Bloomberg dings Sanders on Vermont senator’s home turf

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Mike Bloomberg campaigns in Vermont and Maine as he focuses on Super Tuesday

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is skipping both Iowa and New Hampshire, making Super Tuesday the main focus of his campaign; Molly Line reports from Burlington, Vermont.

Mike Bloomberg dismissed the idea of voting for a "revolution" as he stumped in 2020 Democratic rival Bernie Sanders's home state on Monday.

The former New York City mayor and multibillionaire business and media mogul – and moderate Democrat – has repeatedly taken jabs at Sanders over the democratic socialist's progressive policy proposals.

BLOOMBERG'S ALREADY SPENT OVER A QUARTER-BILLION TO RUN CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS

As Fox News’ Kelly Phares reports, Bloomberg was asked during his stop in Burlington, Vt., why he would be a better choice than Sanders to beat President Trump in November’s general election. Bloomberg responded, “I think that in terms of a lot of people who think this country should evolve rather than have a revolution, I would be their choice.”

That was a not-so-veiled jab at Sanders, who repeatedly calls for a “political revolution” while on the campaign trail as a key component of his White House bid.

A day earlier, giving a major address on anti-Semitism during an event in Florida, Bloomberg joked that he was the only Jewish presidential candidate who does not want to turn the U.S. into a “kibbutz.”

A “kibbutz” refers to longtime collectivist farms in Israel and was an apparent dig at Sanders, the only other Jewish candidate in the Democratic presidential field.

While Bloomberg was in Vermont on Monday, campaign manager Kevin Sheekey was also taking aim at Sanders. In an interview with Yahoo News, Skeekey pointed to Sanders progressive agenda and predicted that “in my view, he loses a general election pretty clearly and decisively, particularly in those six swing states” that will most likely determine the outcome of the presidential election.

With his stop in Vermont – and later Monday in Maine – Bloomberg’s now visited all 14 of the states from coast to coast that vote on Super Tuesday, which this cycle will be held on March 3.

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg holds a campaign event in Burlington, Vermont on Jan. 27, 2020

Bloomberg flirted with a White House run a year ago, but in March, with former Vice President Joe Biden gearing up for a presidential run, he decided against launching a campaign because he felt he and the former vice president would split the center-left Democratic vote.

But in late November -- with Biden battling other top-tier contenders Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts as well as former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg -- Bloomberg jumped into the race. He said that he was concerned none of the current candidates could defeat President Trump in next year's election.

Since he jumped into the race late, Bloomberg’s skipping Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- the four early voting states that kick off the nominating calendar in February. Instead, he’s concentrating on the delegate-rich Super Tuesday states that vote on March 3 and beyond.

'Nobody has said I have done anything wrong'

While the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump continues in the nation’s capital, Biden was taking aim at the Republican incumbent he hopes to oust from the White House in the general election.

“Just remember one thing, why the man is on trial, because he doesn’t want to run against me,” Biden told reporters – including Fox News’ Madeleine Rivera – in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Monday.

Trump’s push for Ukraine’s president to investigate Biden – as well as his son Hunter, who held a lucrative position on the board of Ukrainian energy company – sparked a controversy that resulted in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives impeaching the president.

The names of both Bidens have come up repeatedly during the trial in recent days..

But the former vice president claimed to reporters, “Nobody has said I have done anything wrong, period. What is there to defend? This is all—the only reason he is being impeached is that he tried to get another government to smear me and they wouldn’t. C'mon!”

Moulton’s marker - but no press release

It may not move the needle much, but former Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts on Monday endorsed Biden for president.

Moulton – the U.S. Marine veteran who served four tours of combat duty in Iraq – took to Twitter to write that “Joe Biden is a proven and effective leader who has what it takes to beat Donald Trump and unify our country. I’m proud to endorse him.”

The Biden campaign – which often emails out news of endorsements – did not put out a release in Moulton’s case.

Moulton ended his long-shot bid for the White House in August.

Trump campaign to flex muscles with Cabinet officials, 'My Pillow' inventor

The leaders of President Trump’s re-election campaign will join top administration cabinet members and officials and leading GOP officials, as part of a full court press in Iowa on Feb. 3, the day the state’s caucuses kick off the presidential nominating calendar.

While the nation’s attention will be the Democratic caucuses – the first contest in the wide open battle for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination -- the Trump campaign is hoping to energize Republican voter turnout at the caucuses as well as grab a share of the national media’s spotlight.

The Trump campaign announced on Monday that campaign manager Brad Parscale will lead more than 80 supporters of the president in fanning out across the state. Among those joining the cavalcade are White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and five other members of Trump’s cabinet. Among the others also on board are House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy; Reps. Lynne Cheney of Wyoming, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Mark Meadows of North Carolina; former Texas governor and former Energy Secretary Rick Perry; Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.; and Mike Lindell, the inventor of “My Pillow.”

Trump makes gains in head to head matchups vs. 2020 Dems

A new poll indicates that the lead some of the top-tier Democratic White House contenders enjoyed over President Trump in hypothetical November general election matchups has shrunk.

The lead that some 2020 Democrats had in some polls in head-to-head matchups with President Trump has shrunk as the impeachment trial for the president has gotten underway in the Senate, according to a new poll.

According to an ABC News/Langer Research Associates poll released Monday indicated Biden edging Trump by just 4 percentage points among registered voters in a potential head-to-head showdown. Sanders had an even smaller 2 point advantage over the president, Warren was tied with Trump, and Buttigieg trailed the president by 3 points. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota had a narrow one point edge over the president.

The ABC News-Langer Research Associated poll used live telephone operators to question 1,004 U.S. adults. The survey was conducted since the start of the Trump impeachment trial and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.