for 2020, a new CNN poll has Biden as the leader for the democrats although hillary was not listed

Joe Biden 33%
Bernie Sanders 13%
Kamala Harris 9%
Pocahontas 8%
Cory Booker 5%
John Kerry 5%
Michael Bloomberg 4%
Beto O’Rourke 4%
Eric Holder 3%
Eric Garcetti 2%
Michael Avenatti 1%
Kirstin Gillibrand 1%
Amy Klobuchar 1%
Deval Patrick 1%
Steve Bullock 0%
John Delaney 0%
Someone else (vol.) 2%
None/No one (vol.) 2%
No opinion 6%

Avenatti is smart. His opponents would underestimate him at their peril. Presidential material? Probably not, at least not yet. Bloomberg would make for a good president, albeit a tad paternalistic for my taste. He was an excellent mayor of NYC, even if he kind of pulled a fast one to get his third term. He had considered himself to be unelectable (short rich Jewish New Yorker), but then the country goes ahead and elects the ultimate unelectable, and all bets are off. Unlike Trump, he is a genuine self-made billionaire, and a sufficiently successful business builder that he could take 12 years off as CEO and return to a firm that was stronger than ever. 

Bloomberg was a so-so mayor. Compared to Guiliani, Bloomberg was a disaster as mayor. Compared to de Blasio, Bloomberg was a good mayor.
He isn't far enough to the left to win the democratic primary.
For that same reason (not far enough left), in NYC he initially had to run as a republican. The only other candidate in the GOP primary was Herman Badillo, a former democratic congressman who left congress in 1977 to become deputy mayor to Ed Koch (the "homo" in "vote for cuomo not the homo")

and a sufficiently successful business builder that he could take 12 years off as CEO and return to a firm that was stronger than ever.

in other words, the guy who replaced him as CEO did a far better job than Bloomberg

meanwhile,
A former Hillary Clinton adviser says there's a chance she will run in 2020

Bloomberg was a so-so mayor. Compared to Guiliani, Bloomberg was a disaster as mayor. Compared to de Blasio, Bloomberg was a good mayor.
He isn't far enough to the left to win the democratic primary.
For that same reason (not far enough left), in NYC he initially had to run as a republican. The only other candidate in the GOP primary was Herman Badillo, a former democratic congressman who left congress in 1977 to become deputy mayor to Ed Koch (the "homo" in "vote for cuomo not the homo")

and a sufficiently successful business builder that he could take 12 years off as CEO and return to a firm that was stronger than ever.

in other words, the guy who replaced him as CEO did a far better job than Bloomberg

I benefit from a bit of local knowledge, having lived in NYC for the entirety of the Giuliani, Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations. Giuliani was a relatively competent manager who benefited from very favorable economic developments under Clinton and positive local demographics. Hiring Bill Bratton as police commissioner and letting him transform the police department was also a very good move.

And I will duly note that your business judgment is as solid as your political acumen...

Every person that I know who worked for Bloomberg L.P. hates Mike Bloomberg.

Does your sample skew toward London based employees from the last few years? I know a rather large number of current and former BBG employees, including a few dozen  quantish people, and they do not broadly share that sentiment. But these are overwhelmingly NYC based, and many left the firm at least a few years ago. 

Didn't Peter Carr do a stint there?
I must say, (apart from being able to rapidly rotate 3D vol surface diagrams around) the quantitative power of their product always struck me as limited given the talent available.
But then again I have a strong aversion to software where you need to know an arcane and undocumented language of product codes to pull up anything useful.

Every person that I know who worked for Bloomberg L.P. hates Mike Bloomberg.

Does your sample skew toward London based employees from the last few years? I know a rather large number of current and former BBG employees, including a few dozen  quantish people, and they do not broadly share that sentiment. But these are overwhelmingly NYC based, and many left the firm at least a few years ago. 

That's because these talented people are busy debugging the infamous >1GB monolithic binary written in multiple languages, including C and Fortran.

Also, Bloomberg's selling point is not the quality of models (even though for many simple uses they're absolutely fine), but data. It used to be also Bloomberg chat, for recruiters, but LinkedIn took over this market.

And you get all this for the bargain price of  2k per month...

‘None of the above’ tops list of potential 2020 Dems, poll shows
None of the above 30%
Biden 25%
Bernie 18%
Hillary 12%
Pocahontas 4%
Kamala Harris 4%
Bloomberg 4%
Cory Booker 3%

I'll put a buck on O'Rourke.

I'll put a buck on O'Rourke.

An Irish Catholic.

I'll put a buck on O'Rourke.

An Irish Catholic.

an irish guy pretending to be an hispanic

some news on one of the 2020 frontrunners, creepy ;porn lawyer Michael Avenatti
Michael Avenatti Arrested for Felony Domestic Violence ... I'll Be 'Fully Exonerated'
I'm a little confused as to what happened, because according to Avenatti, he didn't hit her but she hit him first

"I have never struck a woman. I will never strike a woman."
(snip)
Our law enforcement sources say Avenatti was arrested Wednesday after a woman filed a felony DV report. We're told her face was "swollen and bruised" with "red marks" on both cheeks.
(snip)
He screamed repeatedly, "She hit me first." We're told he angrily added, "This is bulls***, this is f***ing bulls***."