Mollie Hemingway writes for the Federalist about the role of panic in Democrats’ turn toward Michael Bloomberg as a potential presidential nominee.

This wasn’t how the 2020 race was supposed to be. The establishment had a plan to take back control of Washington, D.C. Donald Trump had seized control and they needed to get it back.

After surveying the options, the plan was to give Joe Biden, President Obama’s vice president, the nomination. The media did their part, suppressing negative messaging about the 77-year-old who has never won a presidential primary or caucus. They pushed an impeachment designed to suppress President Trump’s numbers heading into the election year. Instead, it helped Trump and hurt Democrats. …

… They spent years getting high on their own supply about Biden’s strength and Trump’s weaknesses, but now they’re coming out of their narco haze and they’re panicking. They’re so desperate that they’re willing to sell the party nomination to Mike Bloomberg, of all people. While his views are at odds with many of the Democratic Party’s base voters, it’s hard to get more establishment than Bloomberg, who made billions selling his terminals to Wall Street.

This week the establishment is really amping up its flirtation with the wee New Yorker. The billionaire businessman hasn’t won any votes yet, and isn’t even on the ballot in the next two states holding elections, but he has won the support of many major media figures. The New York Times [Tuesday] had eight stories about Bloomberg on the politics page of its website, compared to zero for ostensible delegate leader and young mayor Buttigieg. That’s not an accident.