Here Comes the Mayor: Riding a surge in the polls, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has qualified to appear in the next Democratic primary debate.

  A national poll from NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Marist shows Bloomberg with 19 percent support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, putting him second behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders with 31 percent. 

  The same poll showed Bloomberg with only 4 percent in December. Joe Biden came in at 15 percent, down 9 points since December.

  Sanders claims Bloomberg is buying his position with his billions.  Bloomberg, he says, “will not create the kind of excitement and energy we need to defeat Donald Trump.” 

  The debate is next Wednesday. Bloomberg will face Sanders; Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; former Vice President Joe Biden; and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. 

Goodbye Joe: After a battering in Iowa and New Hampshire, Vice President Joe Biden is looking to make a comeback of sorts by finishing at least second in the Nevada caucuses. He’s gone from front runner to hoping not to be forgotten. His problem is that he could put a cup of coffee to sleep.

  Biden’s strategists say that if he can take second in Nevada and win South Carolina he will lead in the delegate count at the point. Right now, polling suggests Biden will finish second in South Carolina. 

Outbreak: Apple warned that it will not make its profit goal for the quarter because of the coronavirus epidemic that has 60 million Chinese citizens in lockdown.

  Apple is dependent on China to both make and buy its telephones and gizmos. They’ve shut down 42 stores during the crisis. Apple is one of the first companies to disclose the impact of the epidemic on business, but the sad thing is everything comes down to money.

  As of this morning, 1,874 people have died of the coronavirus and 73,336 have been infected.

Hitting the Wall: NASCAR driver Ryan Newman is in serious condition after crashing on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

  The fiery mashup happened when the 42-year-old driver was on the brink of his second Daytona victory. He was knocked from behind by Ryan Blaney and spun. Newman’s Ford was struck again from behind by a second car. He hit the wall, flipped and went airborne. His car skidded in a shower of sparks before catching fire.

  Newman’s injuries are described as not life threatening. Denny Hamlin ended up winning the race, his second straight.

The Book of Revelations: Speaking at Duke University last night, former National Security Adviser John Bolton said his unpublished book will reveal more than just the pressure campaign on Ukraine to help President Trump with domestic politics if he can past “censorship” by the White House.

  The White House claims portions of the book contain classified information. Bolton teased his book saying, “For all the focus on Ukraine and the impeachment trial and all that, to me, there are portions of the manuscript that deal with Ukraine, I view that like the sprinkles on the ice cream sundae in terms of what’s in the book.” 

The Bulletin Board: Bracing for a barrage of sexual abuse lawsuits, the Boy Scouts of America is filing for bankruptcy. As many as 8,000 people have filed complaints. — The billionaire founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, yesterday announced the formation of the Bezos Earth Fund, which he says will provide $10 billion in grants to scientists and activists for fighting climate change. — Vandals spray painted the iconic Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts where the Pilgrims are believed to have first set foot on North America. Bright red paint.  

The Obit Page: Charles Portis, author of the novel “True Grit” that was made into a John Wayne movie, died in Little Rock, Arkansas at age 86. He was known as America’s best unknown writer.

  A reporter for the New York Herald Tribune who had covered the civil rights movement in the South, Portis had been assigned to be the paper’s London bureau chief when he shocked his colleagues in 1964 announcing he would leave to write fiction.

  Within two years he published his first novel, and within four published “True Grit,” a tale about the grizzled federal marshal Rooster Cogburn in the cowboy west.

 Here is the famous scene in which Cogburn confronts four armed bandits:

  “Rooster said, ‘I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned, or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker’s convenience! Which will you have?’

  “Lucky Ned Pepper laughed. He said, ‘I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man!’

  “Rooster said, ‘Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!’ and he took the reins in his teeth and pulled the other saddle revolver and drove his spurs into the flanks of his strong horse Bo and charged directly at the bandits.”

  You can guess who wins that one.

Apostrophe Now!: Donald Trump tweeted “HAPPY PRESIDENT’S DAY!” making it possessive, not plural, because it’s about him.