Bloomberg set to join Democratic primary debate in Nevada

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is set to join his fellow presidential candidates for first time on Democratic primary debate stage in Nevada on Wednesday, his campaign manager Kevin Sheekey confirmed on Tuesday.

"Mike is looking forward to joining the other Democratic candidates on stage and making the case for why he's the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump and unite the country," Sheekey said in a statement.

Bloomberg did not meet the donor threshold to qualify for the past debates since he has been self-funding his campaign from the very beginning.

However, the Democratic National Committee in January eliminated the donor requirement to participate in debates and Bloomberg now qualifies for the debate with the Tuesday release of a new NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll showing that he is trailing only front-runner Senator Bernie Sanders.

The poll shows Bloomberg at 19 percent, while Sanders leads the field with 31 percent support. Former Vice President Joe Biden came third with 15 percent support, followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren at 12 percent support, Senator Amy Klobuchar with 9 percent and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 8 percent.

The poll was conducted Feb. 13-16 among 1,416 U.S. adults with a margin of error at 5.4 percentage points.

Bloomberg will be on the ballot for the Super Tuesday contests on March 3.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)