Academy Award-winning actor Michael Douglas endorsed former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for president Tuesday, calling him one of the “greatest candidates” in American history.
In an interview with People magazine, Mr. Douglas said he “hasn’t been this excited” about a presidential candidate since John F. Kennedy.
“I feel so blessed that in this particularly difficult time that we have one of the greatest candidates in the history of our elections,” he said.
Mr. Bloomberg offers “a rare opportunity to coalesce and bring us back together, get rid of all this horrid, negative scare tactics that are going on, and the fact that he’s succeeded to the degree that he has is phenomenal,” he continued.
Mr. Douglas joins TV judge Judy Sheindlin as the big-name endorsements for Mr. Bloomberg, who is funding his own campaign and has avoided the earliest-voting primary states in an effort to court voters in larger states.
Mr. Douglas said the former mayor’s self-funded campaign means he’s not owned by anyone.
“The fact that he doesn’t need people to pay for his campaign means that he doesn’t owe anybody,” he said. “Do I hope eventually that money in political campaigns will become a thing of the past? Certainly. I think Mike would be one of the first ones to say that.”
The actor also said he’s worried that a candidate who is too far to the left would be too divisive.
“I don’t know if we are ready for a dramatic change in policies or if we’re working more just to fix some of the things that are wrong,” he said. “A little tweaking might be in order and make audiences feel a little more secure before we have anything of a dramatic change taking place.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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