People thought Harris was another Obama but she really was another Clinton. I gather a lot of her support went to Mayo Pete because he ticks a lot more boxes and is somewhat charismatic.
Okay Gabbard helped do this please get rid of Pete next.
I think the conspiracy that Bloomberg is positioning himself for a third party run looks right. I gather the test want cabinet positions or positioning for future runs.
Harris tried to economise too late, in focusing her flailing campaign on an Iowa strategy gamble.
Sadly the successful Obama 2008 coalition method is now badly outdated, plus she never put in the solid Iowa ground game that Obama started early with Tommy Vietor et al in January 2007.
Mayor Pete hasn't yet ticked all the necessary boxes, but his strongest card so far is the solid ongoing fundraising he's achieving that can keep his campaign going longer than would normally be expected from such a candidate. He's only polling well in pointless national polls, plus the embarrassingly white early caucus and primary states.
Unless he can increase his support amongst key democratic primary-voting minorities - no amount of money will get him further than a slim chance, should the democrats end up suffering a brokered convention in 2020.
Bloomberg is making himself an irritating fly in primary ointment, but there's nothing to indicate he'll renege on his original pledge to only run as a democrat.
Third party runs of that type are more like a GOP talking point fantasy - it leaves so much more room for another narrow Trump win via the electoral college, were it to happen. If nothing else, Bloomberg is far too invested in his personal political legacy, to end up remembered as an unwitting Jill Stein-like Trump enabler.
Right now, Bloomberg's dumb and controversial reporting policy for his media channel might seem like beltway insider intrigue. Should he gain any actual traction, it'll become a much bigger story. Unnecessarily so to boot, if he'd just thought it all through!
Unlike Bloomberg, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls in the 2008 republican primary at this point in the cycle. His embarrassing lack of delegates at the subsequent convention is solid evidence of the folly of that kind of media-driven, early state-avoiding Super Tuesday strategy.
Obviously the motivations of many long odds candidates can be attributed to cabinet level aspirations. Red state democrats like Steve Bullock are refusing opportunities to run for the Senate, citing the likely ongoing legislative gridlock under Moscow Mitch, plus the personal logistical implications.
To continue pursuing an inevitably unsuccessful presidential campaign, only to then accept a cabinet level appointment would be the height of insincerity. On the other hand, such situations have rarely previously stopped politicians of any and all political stripes from looking hypocritical!