DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday the prospect of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg mounting an independent presidential campaign "speaks volumes about the state of American politics," noting with a populist flair it might mean two of the three contenders would be billionaires.

"If the general election came down to (Republican Donald) Trump and myself and if Bloomberg decided to jump in, two of the three candidates would be multi-billionaires," Sanders said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And by the way I'm the one who is not the multi-billionaire."

In a wide-ranging interview, Sanders called the notion that he must win Iowa's caucuses against Hillary Clinton "mythology," but appeared to lower expectations about his challenge to the Democratic front-runner in next Monday's lead-off caucuses.

"If I lose Iowa by two votes and end up with virtually the same number of delegates, is that a must-lose situation? Is that a tragedy? No," Sanders said aboard a charter flight en route to a rally in Duluth, Minnesota. "We are running a campaign that will take us to the convention and I'm very proud of the kinds of enormous gains we have made."

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats on Capitol Hill, said Bloomberg's interest in a presidential bid brought forth "one of the issues that I think galls the American people — that we're moving toward an oligarchic form of society."

"If Michael Bloomberg — and I have nothing against him personally — were a normal person with the same ideas, he would never in a million years have thought about running for president," Sanders said. "But as a billionaire, 'Hey, I'm thinking of running for president. Throw in a few billion into the race. I'm off and running!' I don't think that's what American democracy is supposed to be about."

He also dismissed speculation that President Barack Obama might be tipping the scales in favor of Clinton after the president praised his former secretary of state in a Politico interview. Sanders said Obama was "very generous to me." He said both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are trying to be "objective and letting the people decide."

Sanders said he and Clinton are in a "nip-and-tuck" race in Iowa but predicted with success he would begin to see more support from establishment Democrats who have coalesced around the former secretary of state's candidacy.

Asked if establishment Democrats would become unnerved if he defeated Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, Sanders said "the good news is we still live in a democracy and people have a say in this."

"Some elements of the establishment really will be upset," he added. "But other elements of the establishment, even if they are not supportive of my candidacy, today understand that the major task in front of us is to defeat right-wing extremism."

He added: "What Democrats want to do is defeat Republicans and if I'm the candidate best able to do that, you can bet your bottom buck we're going to have a whole lot of establishment Democrats on board."