On the campaign trail, former Vice President Joe Biden has spoken openly and angrily about the attacks the right has waged on his family over their dealings in Ukraine, pointing to them as a sign that they consider him a threat to President Trump’s re-election. “I wonder why they spend so much time trying to keep me from being the nominee,” Biden said at a rally in Nashua, New Hampshire, earlier this week, mentioning the millions of dollars in ads launched to try and tear down his candidacy. “Have you ever seen another party spend as much time deciding who the other party’s nominee shouldn’t be?” There is no evidence that Biden or his son, Hunter, did anything wrong when the younger Biden was put on the board of energy company Burisma—in fact, the claims made by the White House and its allies have been effectively debunked. And at the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, even one of Biden’s 2020 rivals, former mayor Pete Buttigieg, rejected the idea there is a “danger” in nominating Biden given the questions about his son’s dealings in Ukraine. “No. And we're not going to let them change the subject,” Buttigieg said. “This is not about Hunter Biden or Vice President Biden or any Biden. This is about an abuse of power by the president... Look, the vice president and I and all of us are competing but we've got to draw a line here.”But for some Democratic voters, the damage of conspiracy theories circulated by Trump and his allies has already been done. And while certainly not the first issue voters raised, for some still rattled by the 2016 race any hint of wrongdoing—true or not—is enough to make them look elsewhere. “I think there's going to be too much baggage there,” said Terri Gilbert, 54, a surgical technician from Newton, Iowa. “I think Trump's gonna make everything up and run with it and play it just like he did Hillary.” At a rally for Buttigieg in Waterloo, Iowa, Maureen O’Connor, 61, a part-time retail worker, had the same concern. “I think they are gonna dig something up on Joe before the whole thing happens,” she said. “Joe is a good candidate... I don't think we're gonna give Joe a chance.” Rival campaigns have also noticed and, according to one Democratic operative with knowledge of the strategies, some have included a question about Biden and the Ukraine issue in their internal polling. Team Biden’s Been Prepping for Impeachment Smears for Months“It’s a real vulnerability, everyone knows that,” the operative said, adding, however, that at least with Biden Democrats know what the attack is going to be as opposed to what may be looming for the yet-to-be vetted candidates. “It’s the devil you know or the devil you don’t know,” the operative said. It is true that the other candidates in the race could also be weighed down by baggage once their records come into sharp relief. The Trump campaign is already planning to take advantage of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) self identification as a socialist, and new problematic comments made by the longtime politician have begun to surface as Sanders rises in the race. Sanders came under fire for those very views at Friday’s debate. Still, none have gotten the attention from the GOP that Biden has in the run up to 2020. “I wonder if the Hunter Biden stuff spooked some voters,” said David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s former chief political campaign strategist. “They're worried he is going to be Benghazi-ed."“The biggest defining force in this primary is Democrats’ ferocious recognition of the threat that Donald Trump is to our country and to who we are as a people. And Donald Trump is so terrified of Joe Biden that he got himself impeached by trying to spread lies about him,” spokesman Andrew Bates told The Daily Beast. “Any ‘Democrat’ who traffics in Trump’s repulsive and comprehensively disproven smears will find themselves eviscerated—by more than just one campaign."Biden, himself, has been defensive when the issue has been raised on the campaign trail. In early December at a stop in New Hampton, Iowa, Biden called out a voter who incorrectly said Biden sent his “son over there to get a job and work for a gas company that he had no experience with gas or nothing in order to get access for the president.” GOP Base Is Hot to Probe Biden, Senate Republicans Not So MuchBiden responded by calling the man a “damned liar,” suggested they take an “IQ test” and appeared to call the man “fat” (the Biden campaign said the former vice president was saying “facts.)In an interview with NBC’s Savannah Gutherie the night before the Iowa Caucuses, Biden was asked about how the impeachment trial had ensured that his son’s position on the Burisma board was in the public eye. “No one has found anything wrong with his dealings in Ukraine, except they say it sets a bad image,” he said. Asked whether it was “wrong” for his son to take a position on the board of a company offered to him in exchange for  access to the then-sitting vice president, Biden shot back, “That’s not true, you are saying things you do not know what you are talking about. No one said that. Who said that?”After Gutherie explained that is how the situation appeared, whether or not it was true, Biden said of his son,  “He said he regretted having done it. Speak for himself. He's a grown man.”With the impeachment trial in the rearview mirror, the Trump campaign and its supporters are doing their best to keep the issue alive. Just feet away from the Concord site where Democratic contenders held a town hall discussing climate change with young voters this week, a large projector affixed on the side of a parked black truck played a scene on repeat discussing Joe Biden and his son Hunter, along with other contenders. The short segment, presented by the Committee to Defend the President, a pro-Trump PAC, showed clips from various opinion programs suggesting Hunter Biden is a corrupt individual. A banner on one segment read “HUNTER BIDEN'S FOREIGN DEALS” in all caps, with a video of the former vice president. “Did Joe Biden’s son profit off father’s position as vice president?”In New Hampshire, Democrats interviewed by The Daily Beast were less bothered by Trump’s allegations. “On my end of things, the Hunter thing means nothing to me,” said Chase Denamur, a Democrat from Litchfield, New Hampshire.  “It doesn’t bother me at all. It’s just another Trump attack that he wants people to look at instead of what he’s doing.”Additional reporting: Sam Stein and Hanna Trudo Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

On the evening of President Donald Trump's Friday night massacre -- his vengeful firing of two officials who testified in the impeachment hearings -- anxious Democrats watched seven presidential candidates take the stage in New Hampshire, each eager to persuade voters that he or she is the best positioned to take on the President and prevent him from winning reelection in November.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the Soviet-born emigre who testified about his President and told impeachment investigators he wasn't afraid to stand up to authority because he was in the US, not under an authoritarian regime, has been let go from the White House. So has his twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, a lawyer for the National Security Council. Another key impeachment witness, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, also has been ousted.

(Bloomberg) -- Seven of the Democratic presidential candidates got a little punchy at their eighth debate Friday, alternating between taking swings at one another and vowing unity once the race is over.With the New Hampshire primary looming on Tuesday, most of the fire was directed at Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, who emerged as the front-runners after the Iowa caucuses.The debate featured attacks on Buttigieg for his age, a standing ovation for an impeachment witness against President Donald Trump and reassurance for Sanders that his opponents did, in fact, like him.Biden Sets Low ExpectationsFour days after getting a “gut punch” by coming in fourth in the Iowa caucuses, former Vice President Joe Biden all-but admitted he won’t do well in New Hampshire either.Discussing Tuesday’s primary, Biden indicated that he expected to come in behind the “neighboring senators,“ Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.“It’s a long race,” he said. “I took a hit in Iowa and I’ll probably take a hit here. Traditionally, Bernie won by 20 points last time. And usually it’s the neighboring senators that do well.”He then suggested he would do better in Nevada and South Carolina, where he is currently ahead in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.“I’ve always viewed the first four encounters, two primaries and two caucuses, as the starting point,” he said.Biden Gets Crowd to ‘Stand Up’ for VindmanThe biggest applause of the night didn’t come for any of the candidates on stage.During a discussion of Trump’s impeachment, Biden noted that the president had just hours earlier removed from a White House post Alexander Vindman, who had testified during the House investigation.“Stand up and clap for Vindman,” Biden said, as the crowd gave a standing ovation. “Get up there! That’s who we are! We’re not what Trump is!”Biden, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama, noted that Trump had awarded controversial talk radio host Rush Limbaugh the medal during the State of the Union Tuesday.“He should be pinning a medal on Vindman, and not on Rush Limbaugh,” he said.Klobuchar Jabs Buttigieg for His AgeAmy Klobuchar got in some not-so-subtle digs at Buttigieg’s age.As the debate began, the Minnesota senator said that she too was a fresh face, referencing her age and Buttigieg’s. “Fifty-nine is the new 38,” she said.Biden, 77, jumped in, adding that “70 is the new 50.”Shortly afterward, while lauding the senators who participated in the two-week Senate impeachment trial, Klobuchar criticized the youthful-looking Buttigieg for wanting to “turn the channel and watch cartoons” during the proceedings.That was a reference to Buttigieg’s comment at a town hall in Ames, Iowa, in January that watching the Senate trial was “exhausting.”“I don’t know about you but watching the news right now, watching the impeachment coverage, watching the Senate is exhausting,” he said in Ames. “I live and breathe politics and I find it exhausting. It just gets you down, it makes you want to watch cartoons instead.”Sanders Gets Some LoveSanders’ competitors hit him over policy, including the costs of Medicare for All, but insisted that personally, he was likeable.When moderators noted former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s remark that among senators “nobody likes him,” the other candidates on the debate stage came to his rescue.“I like Bernie just fine,” said Klobuchar, as Biden crossed the stage to give Sanders a side hug.At another point, Klobuchar noted that she had worked with Sanders on a prescription drug policy change which she called the Klobuchar-Sanders Amendment.“Sanders-Klobuchar Amendment,” he joked in response.“No, it is not,” she responded playfully.It’s the King of Denmark’s FaultTrump was nowhere near New Hampshire, but his presence was felt on the stage. Klobuchar poked fun at him for his frequent feuds, citing two of his more humorous ones.During a discussion of the need to work with other countries, she argued that the president “literally blames everyone in the world,” saying he has castigated Obama and even Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he appointed.“He blames the king of Denmark. Who does that?” she said. “He blames the prime minister of Canada for, he claims, cutting him out of the Canadian version of ‘Home Alone 2.’ Who does that? That’s what Donald Trump does.”In December, Trump complained that his brief cameo in “Home Alone 2” was cut from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s version for TV, tweeting that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “doesn’t much like my making him pay up on NATO or Trade!” The network said the cut was made with many others years earlier to shorten the movie.One small thing. Trump did have a dispute with Denmark, when he canceled a visit last August after the country’s prime minister rejected his idea of buying Greenland. But the invitation came from the queen of Denmark, Margrethe II, who succeeded her father in 1972.Biden Forgets Debating 101Biden learned an old debate lesson the hard way: Never ask a hypothetical question.Speaking about the Senate’s role in confirming Supreme Court justices, he argued that Democrats needed to pick a nominee who can win broadly.“Who is most likely to help get a senator elected in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Minnesota?” he asked.All of the other candidates on stage raised their hands.“You can, I agree,” he said. “Here’s the point: You’ve got to be able to not just win.”Pandering to New HampshireIf you didn’t know that the debate was taking place in New Hampshire, the candidates went out of their way to remind you.Discussing Amazon’s effects on local businesses, Venture for America founder Andrew Yang noted that 30% of New Hampshire stores and malls are closing.Talking about his ability to get elected, Buttigieg noted that New Hampshire has an “independent streak” and won’t “be told what to do by anyone,” he said.In an answer on gun laws, Sanders noted that his home state of Vermont, like New Hampshire, is “very rural.” And comparing America’s high prescription drug prices to Canada’s, he noted that the country borders the Granite State.But Klobuchar took the cake, pointing out that New Hampshire has high voter turnout; giving two shoutouts to New Hampshire Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, neither of whom have endorsed in the 2020 primary; and even noting in a discussion of international systems that the Bretton Woods agreement was signed in the state.(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.)To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Teague Beckwith in Manchester, New Hampshire at rbeckwith3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Magan CraneFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Donald Trump is dictating the terms of the 2020 Democratic primary. And if there was any doubt, it was dispelled within minutes during Friday night’s debate. Appearing just days before the New Hampshire primary and after the disastrous Iowa Caucuses, the seven White House aspirants spent a good chunk of their evening not debating each other but grappling with the muck that the president would throw at them.It started from the beginning with a simple question: would Trump effectively weaponize the label of “Democratic socialist” against the party that its informal frontrunner, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has so readily adopted. “Why shouldn't Democrats be worried?” Sanders was asked, to which he replied: “Because Donald Trump lies all the time.” But it only extended from there. Trump’s acquittal during his Senate impeachment trial was an early topic. So too were his attacks on former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, over his business activities in Ukraine. “Whoever is the nominee the president is going to make up lies about them,” Biden stressed in response, his voice registering just a tinge of sorrow, as if acknowledging that the “lies” had, indeed, worked. At another juncture, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) admonished former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg for lacking the experience to take on the presidency—a line she’s used before but this time with Trumpian thematics. “We have a newcomer in the White House and look where it got us,” she stressed. For good measure, Buttigeig responded not by emphasizing the experience he had but by framing it as an effective contrast to what Trump might offer voters in the general election—from his Midwestern roots to his military service. “If we want to beat this president we have to move on from the playbook we have relied upon in the past and unify this country around a new and better vision,” he said. Every re-election contest is, to a large degree, a referendum on the incumbent in office. And 2020 is no different. But rarely is the discussion so plainly driven by fear about how that incumbent might act. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum spent 2012 debating who was more conservative, not if it was wise to make such a claim lest Barack Obama use it against them. Never was there a conversation about whether they should not run a candidate because his or her adult child may be used against them.But Trump has a unique ability to set the terms and conditions of the conversation. And the degree to which he has begun affecting the Democratic primary, just days before voters head to the polls on Tuesday, has become increasingly evident.On the trail from Iowa to New Hampshire, several voters told The Daily Beast that they were hesitant about voting for Biden, not because they didn’t appreciate his candidacy but because they feared the damage that would be done to him by Trump. And back in Washington, D.C. there is a new prevailing fear among Democratic operatives—mainly, that the party is depressing its own voters by focusing so intently and obsessively on Trump alone. As Buttigieg conceded at one point in the debate, there was “a sense of exhaustion.”That exhaustion has morphed into abject fear among top party operatives, who sense that the narrative of the election is quickly getting away. “There is no doubt that Trump is a singular force and motivates a lot of people,” said Guy Cecil, the head of the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA, which has launched a multi-million dollar voter registration effort. “But clearly that is not sufficient.”And the exhaustion has manifested itself in a primary election that, at times, can feel a bit sleepy. There have been relatively few campaign events in the days since Iowa—indeed, some candidates have completely left the trail. And while the candidates sparred with each other at various junctures on Friday—most notably over who was most pure when it came to campaign finance—the jabs were comically muted by historic standards. No one on stage piled on Biden when, during a question about the courts, he left out the role he played in Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court nomination; no one pointed out that Buttigieg’s campaign had made overt signals for Super PAC help even as he decried super PACS. No one seemed inclined to express concerns about Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine. And when Sanders was presented with an op-ed written by a surrogate calling into Biden’s record on race, he decided to affirm his support for Biden, not his surrogate.Mortal Kombat this was not. It was barely Mario Kart. Instead, the candidates often found themselves debating the various nuances of the policies that they all agreed upon. They affirmed their support for appointing justices who would uphold abortion rights and they registered their fears about military entanglements abroad. At various junctures, they took on positions that would have seemed positively out-of-place during Democratic debates in cycles passed: from decriminalizing the possession of certain drugs to proudly giving the proverbial middle finger to the gun lobby. “I will not be intimidated by the NRA,” said Sanders, in the process of defending his record on gun policy. What this means for the primary itself seems almost impossible to determine since no one seems to be able to determine how the primary is going at all. The debate was not without its stand out. Klobuchar, who has hovered on the cusp of the top tier for weeks, turned in a strong performance hitting the two frontrunners Sanders and Buttigieg without sustaining any jabs herself. “I do not have the biggest name up on this stage, I don't have the biggest bank account,” she said in her closing statement. “I'm not a political newcomer with no record. But I have a record of fighting for people.” Just four days from the New Hampshire primary, Sanders and Buttigieg, who have each enjoyed recent polling bumps in the state, came into the debate with targets on their backs. After each declaring victory in Iowa’s caucuses on Monday, the two leading contenders in the Granite State sought to extend that momentum to the stage. Biden, who finished a disappointing fourth, remarkably chose to start the debate by conceding that he would not win the primary in New Hampshire. And Warren, who has continued to lose significant ground in New Hampshire, was notably absent from much of the discourse happening in her neighboring state, until putting in some digs at Buttigeig at the end. The uncertainty of it all was underscored during a segment towards the end, when talk turned to a candidate who wasn’t even on the stage: former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Hands on his lectern, Sanders could hardly conceal his disgust that all his work squeaking out a raw vote win in Iowa and positioning himself for victory in New Hampshire could be wiped out by a well placed—and heavily funded—ad campaign. “I guess if you’re worth $60 billion dollars … you have a slight advantage,” the Senator said about Bloomberg, who is skipping the first four contests. “That is nonsense.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

It was a great night for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) at the New Hampshire debate, but not so much for former Vice President Joe Biden, ABC News' analysts say.After the conclusion of Friday's debate on ABC, the network quickly transitioned into commentary, with analyst Jonathan Karl praising Klobuchar first and foremost."I think this was a breakthrough night for Amy Klobuchar," Karl said. "This was by far her best debate."Martha Raddatz seemed to agree, noting that Klobuchar delivered an "especially strong close." Later, ABC analyst Matthew Dowd concurred that in the end, she's the only candidate who may have altered the race."The only person to me that fundamentally changed where they were ... was Amy Klobuchar," Dowd said.This was a familiar refrain, as pundits have quite often come out of Democratic debates declaring Klobuchar the winner, only for her position in the polls to stay roughly the same. "Klobuchar feels like 2020's Carly Fiorina," The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay wrote. "Kills it on the debate stage every time, but it just doesn't seem to translate on the scoreboard."Dowd argued, though, that it was Biden who "had the worst night," explaining he didn't necessarily do badly but simply didn't improve his standing like he needed to after a disappointing fourth place Iowa showing. "His path is still on the downward slope," Dowd added. > .@jonkarl: "This was a breakthrough night for Amy Klobuchar." https://t.co/Rhy9aOaDTU DemDebate pic.twitter.com/wGYxa9gwzN> > -- ABC News (@ABC) February 8, 2020More stories from theweek.com Elizabeth Warren's last chance American democracy is dying Democratic debate gives standing ovation to ousted impeachment witness Col. Vindman

Vice President Joe Biden asked the audience of ABC's Democratic presidential debate to stand for Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key impeachment witness President Trump fired hours before the debate.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had the most speaking time at the Friday Democratic debate in New Hampshire, dominating 19 minutes and 54 seconds of the two-and-a-half hour event, NPR reports.While Sanders split an uncertain victory in the Iowa caucuses with the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, it was former Vice President Joe Biden who came in second place in the Granite State with a 19 minutes and 31 seconds of speaking time. Buttigieg followed, with just over 18 minutes.Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren came in fifth out of all the candidates, speaking for just short of 16 minutes, behind Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who spoke for 16 minutes and 21 seconds. Warren, however, is third in RealClearPolitics' aggregate of the polls, with 14.4 percent of support behind Biden and Sanders, meaning her speaking time vastly differed from her actual popularity in the country.Entrepreneur Andrew Yang once again had the shortest amount of speaking time of all of the candidates, with a mere eight minutes to share his thoughts. Yang hadn't managed to qualify for the January 14 debate, and he's regularly one of the most overlooked members of the debates that he has participated in. In September, for example, he spoke for just seven minutes and 58 seconds.See all of the speaking times below. > NEW: The New Hampshire DemDebate is over.> > Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg racked up the most speaking time. https://t.co/x8adsPQUvh pic.twitter.com/klG0R3UTEd> > -- NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) February 8, 2020More stories from theweek.com Elizabeth Warren's last chance American democracy is dying Democratic debate gives standing ovation to ousted impeachment witness Col. Vindman

Upon receiving the press release Wednesday afternoon, I let out an audible groan: Steve Bannon, the former Trump consigliere, fascist propagandist, and failed documentary filmmaker, would be the big top-of-show interview guest on Bill Maher’s popular HBO series Real Time Friday night. Having interviewed Bannon in the past, including a fairly heated three-hour back and forth in his lux Venetian hotel suite that lasted into the wee hours, I know how much of a charismatic charmer he can be, which, in addition to his serving as a valued source for so many White House reporters, is a big reason why he’s been subject to so many fawning profiles. Such cajoling can easily work on Maher, who not only loves having his colossal ego massaged but has found common ground with everyone from alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos to, well, Steve Bannon, who talked circles around the late-night comedian during his last Real Time appearance.  Which brings us to Friday night.  Following an impeachment-heavy monologue (“I feel like Nancy Pelosi’s copy of the State of the Union…”), and calling it Trump’s “best week ever” following his acquittal by the Senate, Maher welcomed Bannon, who’s recently made headlines for pushing debunked claims about the spread of the coronavirus, onto the show, airing live while the Democratic debate in New Hampshire was still ongoing. And, well, things got weird. Steve Bannon, in His $1,400 Hotel Suite, Rails Against the ‘Elite’Bill Maher Upstaged by Milo Yiannopoulos on ‘Real Time’First question? “I’m not gonna lie about it, your boy had the best week so far.” (Yes, that was really the opening question.) After allowing Bannon to gloat a bit, Maher—referring to Bannon as a “student of history”—interjected, asking, whether anything this week in Trumpworld bothered him, including the firing of Vindman, calling Romney a “suppressive person” (Maher’s words), bragging about how he wouldn’t have been in office if he hadn’t fired FBI Director Comey, etc. “We should’ve had a longer impeachment. We should’ve had Bolton, we should’ve had Mulvaney…witnesses, let ‘em get crossed, but we get the whistleblower, we get the second whistleblower, we get Schiff as a factor in this, let’s get it all out.” said Bannon, adding, that this is “about going after the office of the president,” and if Bernie gets elected, the “neoliberal, neocon national-security apparatus” will go after him, too. (Though Bernie has not, like Trump, committed a number of crimes whilst in office.) Bannon also rambled on about Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia—forwarding the (debunked) right-wing conspiracy theory that the investigation was politically-motivated—but Maher instead changed the subject, and instead of breaking down and exposing Bannon’s arguments for how empty they are, chose to focus on Trump’s bad words, and Bannon successfully steered the talk elsewhere, as is his wont. They agreed that Trump will “run the table” and be re-elected, and that the Democrats are incredibly “arrogant,” and that Hillary “should have gone to Wisconsin,” but lightly tussled over the merits of the Electoral College. And Bannon, playing three-dimensional chess, admitted that he likes Bernie because he’s a “populist,” and that Bernie’s been “screwed by the Democratic Party,” to which Maher politely agreed. The two then shared some laughs going at it over the debt, discussed the silly names Trump’s called Bannon (he deflected once more), and then Maher allowed Bannon to deliver his closing statement, uninterrupted, before remarking, “I wish we had someone on our side as evil as you, Steve.” Pathetic. Maher has made it plainly clear that he is unequipped to handle such incendiary figures on his program. So, why does he do it? Ratings? Controversy? Or both? Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg might have not qualified for the Democratic debates yet, but he still had a cameo on Friday.George Stephanopoulos during Friday's New Hampshire debate asked a question all about Bloomberg submitted via Apple News, asking the candidates why they're "better positioned" to take on President Trump than he is. The Democrats on the stage, naturally, didn't pass up the opportunity to get in some attacks on a candidate who wasn't actually there to respond."I don't think anyone ought to be able to buy their way into a nomination or to be president of the United States," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said.Sanders joined in as well, saying, "It's a funny thing. There are millions of people who can desire to run for office, but I guess if you're worth $60 billion and you can spend several hundred million dollars on commercials, you have a slight advantage. That is nonsense."These attacks may end up serving as solid practice for an upcoming debate, as a recent rule change leaves the door open for Bloomberg to soon join the fun himself. > Sen. Sanders on Michael Bloomberg: "I guess if you're worth $60 billion and you can spend several hundred million dollars on commercials you have a slight advantage. That is nonsense." https://t.co/0GxKJz7e8Y DemDebate pic.twitter.com/6p6YtLnEjF> > -- ABC News (@ABC) February 8, 2020More stories from theweek.com America's pig problem Vanguard is an anomaly in the investment world. Can it stay that way? 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's impeachment acquittal