Hello everyone and welcome to Ammanpore and company. Here's what's coming up.

Anyone hear the slogan? Mike will get it done.

Mike Bloomberg rises as a serious challenger in the Democratic primary and qualifies for his first debate. I speak to his senior campaign advisor Tim O'Brien then

That's the big unknown about this virus is how long is it going to last?

Reality hits home for an American with the coronavirus. Now what might the epidemic mean

for China's leaders and for the world economy? I ask veteran China

correspondent John Pompfrid and recognizing creeping authoritarianism in our own backyard.

Anna Cabrera speaks to Yale historian Timothy Snyder. Welcome to the program everyone. I'm Christiane Ammanpur in London.

It's a banner day for Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign

as he saws to the top ranks of the national polls and qualifies for his first

Democratic debate. According to the latest NPR PBS Newshour poll, Bloomberg is in

second place nationally, but the political press is flooded

with headlines about his crime policies like Stop and Frisks that disproportionately

targeted black men when he was mayor of New York, about allegations of sexist

comments and about his limitless war chest. After decades of underwriting liberal

policies on gun control, climate, health and education and political candidates

including many women, Bloomberg is funding his own campaign to the tune of

four hundred million dollars and counting. So what does it mean to be so rich in a race where

other leading candidates are targeting billionaires? Timothy O'Brien is a

senior advisor for the Bloomberg 2020 campaign and he's joining me now from Sacramento,

California. Welcome to the program. It's a privilege, Kostyan. So Timothy O'Brien

this is actually a major turning point.

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