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* “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”–What Michael Bloomberg is hoping for.

* There are no second first impressions. What Michael Bloomberg is hoping to overcome.

* Some things money can’t buy. What Michael Bloomberg is hoping is overstated.  

* “(Bloomberg’s) was the worst performance (in Vegas) in recent debate history–but if he can turn it around, it will be the biggest comeback in modern primary history.”–Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.

* Yes, that Las Vegas presidential debate was contentious and at times snarky (until you compare it to the antics we saw from the Republican candidates in 2016). It also had its chaotic moments as candidates necessarily talked over each other, worked in gotcha lines or just vied for the attention of the panel of journalists.

Speaking of, it didn’t help that NBC’s questioners (five, including moderator Lester Holt) were barely outnumbered by the candidates (six). It was a reminder that this is performance art and this is a high-profile network show that showcases its own. Seemingly, no effort was made to rein in partisans in the audience.

A couple of days later I watched the C-SPAN primary debate between Democrats vying for the Senate in Massachusetts: the incumbent Sen. Edward Markey, 73, the original champion of the Green New Deal, and the challenger, Rep. Joe Kennedy III, 39, the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy. The debate focused on foreign policy, campaign finance, health care, immigration and climate change. There were only two panelists. No gotcha optics and a compliantly reserved crowd. Civility reigned. According to polls, this one is still too close to call.

I miss Jim Lehrer and Tim Russert.

* It’s probably not a good idea to vote early–unless logistics necessitate it–in a primary. Too much can happen in a relatively short time span that is a de facto vetting process. More than 220,000 Florida Democrats have already voted by mail in the March 17 primary.

* Too bad Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., can’t define himself as a socialistic Democrat instead of a “democratic socialist.” It’s more than grammatical arrangement and nuance; it’s about connotation and identity as well as priorities. In short, don’t make it overly easy for the duplicitous  opposition to disparagingly define you–whether as a Castro (Fidel not Julián) fan or a reference to that back-in-the-day “Moscow honeymoon.” And while rallying “revolutionaries” can be a primary hustings winner, it’s more likely a loser with this general election electorate.

* What’s beyond obvious is that for the Democratic moderates, it’s either consolidate or concede to  Sanders, the only one with a “movement.” There is also the matter of whoever is at the top of the ticket will matter mightily to down-ballot candidates, notably in the Senate. There are 23 Republican-held seats up in 2020, compared with 12 Democratic-held seats.

* Bloomberg will sell his company, Bloomberg LP, valued at some $60 billion, if elected president. The point is likely moot.

* “I’ve never much liked political parties. I’ve always believed that we should put country before party. Too many politicians practice the reverse, with terrible consequences for the American people.” That was Mike Bloomberg, in explaining why he was supporting Democrats in their efforts to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018.

* “I ain’t a socialist. I’m not a plutocrat. I’m a Democrat.”–Joe Biden.

* “In the end, Mr. Bloomberg’s billions may be worth less than Mr. Sanders’ millions. Attracting small donors both signals and cements a loyal following. Spending your own fortune doesn’t.”–Republican strategist and fundraiser Dan Palmer.

* “The ground has shifted for everybody. People believe the taxes are too low on the very wealthy. That’s become a cornerstone belief.”–That was Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress, underscoring that wealth taxes were hardly the exclusive domain of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Tampa’s Cigar City roots hearken back to Havana. A significant part of our proud, pluralistic DNA is Latino. Good for Mayor Jane Castor for making the effort to find more ways to make Tampa, which is more than a quarter Hispanic, more welcoming to Spanish speakers. It started with a Spanish translation of the city’s website so newcomers could more easily learn about city services. It’s also noteworthy that the mayor is on familiar terms with the local Univisión and Telemundo channels. She has an Hispanic Advisory Council and her partner, Ana Cruz, is Hispanic with deep ties in the community. But there is, somewhat ironically, another diversity box still unchecked. No one–nadie–on Castor’s office staff is fluent in Spanish.

*Espo update: Alex Ovechkin, now in his 15th year with the Washington Capitals, recently became the eighth player in NHL history with 700 career goals. If he gets 18 more this season, he would move into sixth place by passing Lightning-founder Phil Esposito, whose statue greets Lightning fans in front of Amalie Arena.

* The Rays were No. 1 in Baseball America’s annual ranking of MLB minor league talent.

* Defending Class 6A state baseball champion Jesuit High School is ranked No. 1 in the country by Collegiate Baseball and the scouting service Perfect Game.

* “Using the word pandemic now does not fit the facts, but it may certainly cause fear.”–Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization.

* “An extreme-right trail of blood has run through our country.”–German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, in the aftermath of an immigrant-hating gunman killing nine people in a suburb of Frankfurt.

* “More than principle, the presence of threat and an enemy is the most important driver of right-wing energy, and since the end of the Cold War, the hunt for enemies has become ever more desperate.”–John Ganz, The New Republic.

* “It was Trump’s genius to sense how pervasive is the moral rot within the GOP. … Reactionary, isolationist, protectionist, nativist, small-minded, mean-spirited and redolent with racism, the Trump GOP is better suited to the 1930s then to tomorrow, right down to the America First slogan borrowed from that era.”–Mac Stipanovich, Republican strategist and former chief of staff to Gov. Bob Martinez, who recently re-registered as a Democrat in order to vote for the candidate who can defeat Trump.

* “Some white supremacist extremists argue that participating in mass attacks or creating other forms of chaos will accelerate the imminent and necessary collapse of society in order to build a racially pure nation.”–A warning from New Jersey’s “Terrorism Threat Assessment” report.

* “Continued financialization of local news will destroy our democracy. It’s time for communities across America to stand up and fight to save local news.”–Jon Schleuss, president of NewsGuild, the union that represents journalists at six McClatchy newspapers. The McClatchy Company, the publisher of 30 daily newspapers in 14 states, including the Miami Herald, has filed for bankruptcy and is expected to be run by a New York hedge fund, Chatham Asset Management.

* “I worry about what will happen eight to 10 years from now when the entitlement time bomb goes off. We’re not at all prepared for the increase in costs associated with Social Security and Medicare. There are going to be consequences.”–Richard Moody, chief economist for Regions Bank.

* “Racial disparities remain a profound problem within our justice system, and Florida is no exception. Our state fits in with the national pattern: Black defendants spend more time behind bars than white defendants for the same crimes. … In Florida, we must shift our correctional approach to focus more on public safety than punishment.”–Florida State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice.

* “Our vote is our voice.”–Lydia Medrano, local director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

* “We consider this a Trojan horse of a bill … intended to open the door to many, many, many other anti-abortion policies.”–Amy Weintraub, reproduction rights director of Progress Florida, referencing the bill passed by the Florida House to require minors seeking abortion to obtain parental consent.

* “It’s hard to  imagine better teamwork between the military and civilian spheres. I am looking forward to another  year of great partnership in Tampa.”–Gen. Rich Clarke, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill AFB.

* “It would be our strong preference that the (Rays) and the players remain in Tampa Bay, and that they’re identified with playing in one market.”–Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Union.                                                           

* “A republic, if you can keep it.”

* When it comes to Department of Justice dysfunction, let’s put the blame where it belongs. The self-serving, impeached demander-in-chief is a given, but so is his quisling, presidential-vendetta tool,  Attorney General William Barr. In short, so much for the post-Watergate tradition preventing White House influence on DOJ investigations, especially the kind that involve administration insiders or POTUS cronies.

Barr–whether it involves Robert Mueller, Roger Stone or Michael Flynn–is responsible for “making it impossible” for him “to do (his own) job.” That happens when your first priority is not justice and the rule of law, but fealty. That happens when you’ve allowed yourself to become the president’s personal attorney. Barr’s declaration that he was “not going to be bullied,” seems more like a cynical, face-saving feint of independence.

Ultimately, karma will be the end game for enabling Trump insiders. Barr need only ask his predecessor. 

* The comparisons between Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are ongoing. Now this: Johnson has found it advantageous to criticize the press as a political tactic that impresses his Brexit base. Most recent example: BoJo has accused the BBC of biased reporting and has threatened it with legal changes that could dry up its sources of funding.

* Baseless gathering. President Trump managed to work in a fund-raiser during his weekend stop at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The event is believed to be his most expensive fund-raiser ever–$580,000 per couple–which reportedly included Keep America Grating caps.

* “America is very rude. They are so rude.” Ironically, that was the take of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who has given notice that Manila will be terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement with the U.S. But “rude”? It speaks volumes when an authoritarian finds this Administration “rude.”

* “Westlessness.“ That was the era-of-Trump-and-Brexit theme of the recent gathering of Western diplomats and business leaders in Munich. The restless, ripple effects of Trump’s unilateralism continue to manifest themselves.

* “Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with their experience.” That was Mark Twain, never more relevant–or prescient.

* As Bernie Sanders well knows, labels matter. Exhibit A: “Socialist.” And in this politically polarized era, “socialist” makes it too easy for the Trump base and their cult leader to mischaracterize and mislead. But Bernie is Bernie; he wants to be the Democratic nominee without actually being a card-carrying “Democrat.” He’s a socialist-Democrat–in that order. And he’s the guy to stick it to the one-percent greed heads.

But that works better in the partisan abstract than in the alternate-facts reality we’re living with. A universe that equates “socialism” with Communism and “free stuff” for the “lazy.”

At some point, Sanders will have to present himself as something other than a Larry David-like socialist messiah that the other side can too easily demean to a too-easily seduced base. America, lest we forget, is still largely a center-left nation.

At some point, Sanders needs to look into a debate camera and say: “When I say ‘socialist,’ I mean somebody who prioritizes the common good. That’s all of us. Nobody is left behind. Because I will defend and protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and improve the Affordable Care Act, doesn’t mean that I favor nationalizing our major industries or replacing markets with central planning. I’m neither stupid nor a Communist. I’m all about a customized capitalistic–yes, I actually just used that term–demand economy. Not a command economy. But it needs safety nets. All societies do. I like the Denmark model, if you will, not the North Korean, Cuban or Venezuelan models my Republican opponents disingenuously try to associate me with. That’s an insult–as well as a lie.

“If this were Europe, I’d be called a social democrat. But this is America, and I call myself a Democratic socialist–in that order. I’m proud to be a Democrat, and I would be proud to be the nominee of a party that puts common good before not uncommon political self interest. We deserve better. All of us.”

* “The world has changed, and my views have changed.” That’s Bernie Sanders candidly acknowledging that he’s no longer against most gun-control legislation. In fact, he’s no longer opposed to the Brady Bill. Yeah, he once was. Vermont can be like that. It’s a reminder that every presidential candidate has some back-in-the-day, constituent-influenced positions that don’t resonate a generation later.

Like Barack Obama on gay marriage, it’s best to acknowledge–and underscore–that you’ve changed your mind without any parsed equivocation. It’s also a sign that you’re open to changing times and, ultimately, what matters most is getting it right, whatever the timing.

* “We know some of the same people in NY. Behind your back they laugh at you & call you a carnival barking clown. They know you inherited a fortune & squandered it with stupid deals and incompetence. I have the record & the resources to defeat you. And I will.”–Michael Bloomberg’s response to Trump’s “Mini Mike” tweets.

* Speaking of the former NYC mayor, it’s not surprising that implausible reports that Bloomberg was considering Hillary Clinton as a possible running mate came from the Drudge Report. Just surprising that Breitbart or Rush Limbaugh didn’t get it out first. Should Bloomberg get the nomination, hardly assured, and be in requisite need of ticket balance, he’ll not be option challenged. That would include Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, California Sen. Kamala Harris and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

* It’s telling that Joe Biden, the former consensus favorite, has had less money to spend than most of his rivals. Name recognition opens check books; a precipitous drop from front-runner status can close a lot of them.

* Biden could have gotten by with competitive showings–shy of victory–in Iowa and New Hampshire. That didn’t happen. Now he has to win. A non-win in South Carolina, where black voters make up about 60 percent of the Democratic electorate, would be devastating–or worse.

* Pete Buttigieg has gone from one media-forum extreme to another. He was recently on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” as well as a Fox News town hall hosted by Chris Wallace. He showed well. He also showed that those running to be president of all the American people should take their message–and their principles and rhetorical skills–to diverse forums, including the de facto opposition. The best candidates know they can’t just preach to the converted and then glibly pivot for the general election.

* The Florida Democratic Party has launched a “Democrats of Faith” outreach throughout Florida. It is promoting voter registration before the Florida primary and speaking to core Democratic values and policies that are in stark contrast to the personal actions and policies embraced by Trump and the Trump-groveling Republican Party. The outreach smartly is aimed at all denominations.

Everything helps, of course, including a possible outreach to cult-leader averse agnostics, whose skepticism likely includes everything that has been unconscionably unfolding during the Trump Administration.

So, a bill that would close Florida’s “gun show loophole” will likely not get passed this year. No surprise, but no less a disgrace. The usual blame has been assigned: election-year politics in a GOP-controlled legislature. Alas, there’s nothing about gun legislation that would fire up a GOPster base or please the NRA. So much for an assault weapons ban.

The Gunshine State reality is that the farther removed we are from Parkland, the less priority given to serious gun legislation. We either convert red to blue or we wait for obligatory legislation after the next mass shooting.

Nobody on the Rays, arguably, is regarded with more respect than veteran Charley Morton. The two-time All-Star, 36, was the Rays best pitcher last year; he’s also well-spoken, professional and a mentor for younger players. Prior to last season, he had spent the previous two with the cheating Houston Astros. He has a World Series ring from 2017. He never said anything until the sign-stealing scandal had broken wide open. Many call it guilt by complicity. 

He finally spoke out on the scandal. “Good people made mistakes; it’s as simple as that,” said Morton.  “I really don’t have anything else to say about it. I think mistakes were made, and everybody is just trying to move on.” That said, it’s likely he’s not doing as much mentoring this spring.

* “The steps China has taken to contain the (coronavirus) outbreak at its source appear to have bought the world time.”–Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization.

* “The only solution in Afghanistan is a political agreement. Progress has been made on this front and we’ll have more to report on that soon, I hope.”–Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

* “(The economic) sanctions have changed absolutely nothing in Russia–I am not proposing at all to lift them, I am just stating this.”–French President Emmanuel Macron.

* “Today, when we remember the history of the bombings in our country, we remember both the suffering of people in German cities and the suffering that Germany inflicted on others. We, as Germans, do not forget our guilt, and we remain true to our responsibility. Always.”–German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in officially marking the 75th anniversary of the Allied bombs that destroyed the city of Dresden.

* “You don’t see the world’s vulnerable people risking their lives to skip illegally en masse to countries like Iran or to Cuba.”–Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

* “These days, time frames are shorter. … A single disturbing video put up on social media is enough to spark a revolution, as in did in Tunisia in 2010.”–Jim Bitterman, CNN’s senior international correspondent.

* “The basic perception influencing the Kremlin is that Russia cannot afford to rely on the good will of its former Western competitors, who in Moscow’s view have taken advantage of the Soviet Union’s collapse by, for example, extending NATO membership up to Russia’s borders.”–Kent Brown, former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Georgia.

* “Democrats should be scared to death watching the president play in thuggish type, re-enacting the chilling final payback scenes of “The Godfather,” when Michael Corleone took out all his enemies. It’s not business. It’s strictly personal.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

* “These are difficult times. … Trump and his enablers have wrought a slow-burn crisis of democracy. … For Trump, this is a government of Trump, for Trump, and by Trump. And his GOP handmaids and tens of millions of Americans are just fine with it.”–David Corn, Mother Jones.

* “Nobody walks into the (Oval) Office on Day 1 with what they need to know, full stop. Do you have the experience to be self-reflective, to have the capacity to grow and to have judgment, and are you secure surrounding yourself with other smart people?”–Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and former chief of staff to President Barack Obama.

* “I would like to see a new beginning. I’d like it to start over. There’s too much controversy about latecomers.”–Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in urging E.R.A. supporters to set aside their long-running campaign for ratification and start over.

* “Everywhere I travel, I hear from parents and educators about active shooter drills terrifying students, leaving them unable to concentrate in the classroom and unable to sleep at night. … If schools are going to do drills, they need to take steps to ensure the drills do more good than harm.”–Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association.

* “Our field team is making sure that Latino communities understand that Democrats match their values on jobs, healthcare and climate change, and we are working to register tens of thousands of Hispanic voters before the start of the general election season in July 2020.”–Luisana Fernandez, the Florida Democratic Party’s Hispanic media director.

* “Nothing is off the table. We’re looking at single-family homes, small developments that have five to 10 units, all the way up to multi-story apartment and condominium complexes. And then even the tiny homes, the container homes. There is nothing we are not going to explore.”–Mayor Jane Castor on plans to meet Tampa’s need for affordable living.

* I think the Water Department is acting in a rogue fashion.”–Tampa City Council member Bill Carlson, on the city’s intentions about its Tampa Augmentation Project, which would convert highly-treated wastewater to drinking water.

 * “I ran on the promise to make development pay its fair share of our infrastructure costs. For too long, our impact fees have been far too low.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Mariella Smith, in urging support for higher school impact fees being proposed by outgoing superintendent Jeff Eakins.

* “This will be a landmark project that furthers Tampa’s emergence as a next-generation city.”–Mike Hammond, senior vice president of the Related Group of Miami, which has filed plans for two luxury condo towers on Bayshore Boulevard, south of W. Bay-to-Bay Boulevard.

* If I had been the Speaker of the House, I would have done what Nancy Pelosi did in tearing up her SOTU speech copy. Damn right. She had just sat through–prop-like–a braggadocios Celebrity Apprentice presentation after being blatantly snubbed on a pre-speech handshake. So she tore up a speech after Trump had completed another round of reality-shredding rhetoric in what had morphed into a “Four More Years” rally among sycophantic, Party First GOPsters. This “House of Shards” was an all-too-appropriate forum for going on a symbolic tear. In the context of one who rips the Constitution, this was nothing but a well-deserved, cutting gesture.

But I would still be wrong.   

However understandable and fist-bumpable as a visceral counter punch, it was not helpful. It reduced Pelosi, however briefly and inadvertently, to a perversely complementary act behind the ringmaster. Unfortunately, it will be used and re-used, sans context, as a Trump-rally meme. Optics matter, especially to the “Lock her up,” “Take her out” crowd. Historical archives will not be enriched by its certain inclusion. One has to believe that Michelle Obama, even during this dystopian administration, would still have advised her to “go high when they go low.” Even if AOC thoroughly approved.

BTW, isn’t it way past the time for some furniture rearranging for the annual SOTU speech? No matter who’s giving it. Whether it’s Barack Obama or Donald Trump, the president shouldn’t be sharing a framed, necessarily distracting, TV shot with the vice president and Speaker of the House. Whether it’s Joe Biden or Mike Pence, Paul Ryan or Nancy Pelosi.

This is the president’s forum, and there will always be additional optics and cut-away response shots, but framing the VP and Speaker in the same shot–as they gesture or notably don’t stand or applaud in unison, is an unnecessary distraction. Even if the president is the distracter-in-chief.

* “Ignorance and despotism seem made for each other.” No, that wasn’t Nancy Pelosi. It was Thomas Jefferson.

* The Friday Night Firings: No one was surprised that the recently acquitted president ranted, raged and exercised knee-jerk retribution by summarily jettisoning those–including Lt. Col. Alexander Vidman, the war hero-Purple Heart winner–whose testimonies to the House underscored Trump’s political extortion involving Ukraine. It’s also a reminder of why there are Whistleblower laws requiring anonymity.

As for the ousting of Gordon Sondland, the million-dollar Republican donor who bought his position as envoy to the European Union: Call it karma. Just ask Paul Manafort or Michael Cohen or Jeff Sessions. Faustian deals can end this way–no matter what Rudy Guiliani thinks.

* Not that it’s a shock, but Sen. Mitt Romney, the lone GOPster vote for impeachment conviction, has been officially disinvited from this month’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference convention by CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp. Only Schlapp doubled down on the partisan retribution raining down on Romney by warning that Romney, were he to show up at CPAC, should be “afraid” for his “physical safety.” Yeah, that’s what it’s come down to these days. That’s also how an authoritarian’s surrogates communicate for the bully pulpiteer. But at least Schlapp didn’t advocate “taking him out.”

* “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.” That was the president referencing Mitt Romney–not Mike Pence.

* This much we still know: Trump’s base is not enough to re-elect him. The 2018 mid-terms were a reminder that moderate suburban voters, especially women, can be difference-makers in several key states.  A crucial GOPster priority is to win back this demographic. But what, candidly, is still puzzling–despite the punditocracy’s analysis about anti-establishment, anti-elite, populist appeal and anti-Clinton sentiment in 2016–is how anyone defined as “moderate,” could have voted for Donald Trump in the first place. He had a track record, one that was as public as it was notorious.

* “We are part of the problem, as an institution that cannot see beyond the blind political polarization.” That was Alaskan Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, going candid.

* “I cannot vote to convict.” That was Sen. Lisa Murkowski, going along to get along.

* “It’s not a party. It’s a cult. (Trump) can’t be beat in the Republican primary.” The reason, explained former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, that he ended his Republican primary challenge.

* So Sen. Rick Scott is proposing a constitutional amendment that would make it harder for the House to impeach an elected official. That will be hard; the constitution hasn’t been amended in a generation. Alas, it’s a lot easier to elect an impeachable president.

* “Race-baiting bigot.” That was Sen. Lindsey Graham’s take on Donald Trump before Trump became his unprincipled lodestar and presidential golfing partner.