MIAMI _ Mike Bloomberg is admitting that his path to winning the Democratic presidential nomination will require something that hasn't happened since 1968: a contested convention.
During a campaign stop in Miami's Little Havana on Tuesday, the former New York mayor said the only way he can secure the nomination is if Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders comes up short of securing a majority of delegates.
"Well, I don't think I can win any other way, but a contested convention is a democratic process," Bloomberg said at after ordering cafe con leche-flavored ice cream in a sugar cone at Azucar Ice Cream Company in Miami. "There are rules in the Democratic Party of how you go about this."
Bloomberg is spending Tuesday campaigning across Florida despite the fact that the state's primary election is two weeks away on March 17. He said the Democratic Party should not award the nomination to the candidate who amasses the most delegates if they are short of a majority.
He also criticized Sanders, the Vermont senator who holds a six-delegate lead over Biden heading into Super Tuesday, for having the opposite opinion.
"I did see Bernie Sanders say all of a sudden he didn't want to follow the rules," Bloomberg said. "Everybody else said yes, they would follow the rules. I find it offensive that Bernie Sanders the last time he ran was in favor of that kind of a convention and now is opposed to it."
Sanders is alone among the top Democratic presidential contenders in his position that the candidate with the most pledged delegates should win the nomination.
Bloomberg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who trail Sanders and Biden with pledged delegates, have predicted a scenario where they secure the nomination by making deals during a contested convention.
"In the road to the nomination, the Wisconsin primary is halftime, and the convention in Milwaukee is the final play," Warren campaign manager Roger Lau wrote in a memo ahead of Super Tuesday.
"If the rules say you can swap votes and make deals, then you can swap votes and make deals," Bloomberg said at a Fox News town hall on Monday evening. "And if you don't like those rules, don't play."
And Bloomberg said that his decision to stay in the race after Biden notched a large victory in South Carolina that prompted two moderates in the field to drop out and amassed a swath of endorsements from establishment Democrats in the last 48 hours does not help Sanders, who has consolidated support from left-leaning voters.
"I'm not helping Bernie Sanders, I'm trying to help myself," Bloomberg said. "I got in because I thought that I could beat Donald Trump and I thought I could do the job of being president and that's why I'm here."
He also attacked Sanders for praising Fidel Castro's literacy programs during a "60 Minutes" interview last week, comments that angered Miami Democrats.
"Since we are here in Little Havana, let me make it perfectly clear and echo what (former Miami Mayor) Manny (Diaz) said. 'We will not win Florida with a candidate who sings the praises of Fidel Castro and downplays the atrocities he has committed in Cuba,'" Bloomberg said. "I know some of those comments are hurtful and offensive to Americans ... who have come here to start a new life."
Bloomberg said he has "no intention of dropping out" after Biden's surge and his own sagging poll numbers after two lackluster debate performances.
Biden's campaign accused Bloomberg of dividing Democrats as primaries and caucuses play out around the country.
"Billionaire Republican tries to sow division in the Democratic party for personal gain," Biden spokesperson TJ Ducklo tweeted. "Sounds familiar."
