Hillary Clinton confident Bloomberg won't run for president.

Clinton Confident Bloomberg Won’t Join Presidential Race

Clinton Confident Bloomberg Won’t Join Presidential Race

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Jan. 24 2016 1:45 PM

Clinton Confident Bloomberg Won’t Join Presidential Race

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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets audience members following a campaign organizing event at Eagle Heights Elementary on Jan. 23, 2016 in Clinton, Iowa.

Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton says she’s confident that by winning the Democratic nomination she will “relieve” former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg of any desire to run for president.

“He’s a good friend of mine,” Clinton said. “The way I read what he said is if I didn’t get the nomination, he might consider it. Well, I’m going to relieve him of that and get the nomination so he doesn’t have to.”

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Donald Trump, meanwhile, said he’d welcome a Bloomberg bid. “I’d love to compete against Michael. And I know him very well. And I think he might very well get in the race and I would love to have him get in the race,” the real estate mogul said on Face the Nation.

Bernie Sanders also welcomed a possible Bloomberg candidacy, but only because he says it would help prove his point about the outsize role money plays in politics. “My reaction is, if Donald Trump wins and Mr. Bloomberg gets in, you’re going to have two multibillionaires running for president of the United States against me,” Sanders said on Meet the Press. “And I think the American people do not want to see our nation move toward an oligarchy, where billionaires control the political process. I think we’ll win that election.”

Also on Meet the Press, Clinton recognized the primary race had become “very personal.”

“People look and they think: Can we imagine this person to be president and commander in chief? And because of my experience, particularly my years as secretary of state, working with President Obama, I think that’s something that people really take into account,” she said.

Daniel Politi has been contributing to Slate since 2004 and wrote the Today’s Papers column from 2006 to 2009. Follow him on Twitter.