NYT - Bloomberg Moves Closer to Running for President

[annie1]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/us/politics/31bloomberg.html?pagewanted=1&ref=politics

(sorry if it's a duplicate, i have a few people on ignore. :D)

<snip>Buoyed by the still unsettled field, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is growing increasingly enchanted with the idea of an independent presidential bid, and his aides are aggressively laying the groundwork for him to run.

On Sunday, the mayor will join Democratic and Republican elder statesmen at the University of Oklahoma in what the conveners are billing as an effort to pressure the major party candidates to renounce partisan gridlock.

Former Senator David L. Boren of Oklahoma, who organized the session with former Senator Sam Nunn, a Democrat of Georgia, suggested in an interview that if the prospective major party nominees failed within two months to formally embrace bipartisanship and address the fundamental challenges facing the nation, “I would be among those who would urge Mr. Bloomberg to very seriously consider running for president as an independent.”

Next week’s meeting, reported on Sunday in The Washington Post, comes as the mayor’s advisers have been quietly canvassing potential campaign consultants about their availability in the coming months.

And Mr. Bloomberg himself has become more candid in conversations with friends and associates about his interest in running, according to participants in those talks. Despite public denials, the mayor has privately suggested scenarios in which he might be a viable candidate: for instance, if the opposing major party candidates are poles apart, like Mike Huckabee, a Republican, versus Barack Obama or John Edwards as the Democratic nominee.

A final decision by Mr. Bloomberg about whether to run is unlikely before February. Still, he and his closest advisers are positioning themselves so that if the mayor declares his candidacy, a turnkey campaign infrastructure will virtually be in place. <snip>

[TwilightGardener]

1. "Quietly canvassing potential campaign consultants about their availability"--

Hm. Well, that's a sign of things to come.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

2. So it suggests right in the article that he doesn't plan to run against Clinton...

so what's the hub-bub in other threads?

[annie1]

3. that's just an example. the quote today for example from Blitzer...

and biden about the one of the top 3 dems that will spark the most bitter fight, that's hil. i think he doesn't want to interfere with something as honest as the barack race that might take part. but the whole clintons vs. the pubs, i think he just thinks it's bullshit.

[Historic NY]

4. With Kissinger advising him I don't think he would be anti-war..

the last time a Ny'er tried to mount an independent campaign he lost and that man was TR Teddy Roosevelt and he got 27.4% of the vote. John Anderson tried and he got around 6.6% of the vote, the next was ross Perot and he garnered about 18.9% of the vote. None got any or enough electoral vote to matter. So when Bloomberg talks about winner take all he needs to take the electoral college votes and he hasn't got a prayer. Bloomberg needs to get on the ballot in all 50 states and time is running out if he does not make the effort soon. I laugh that he is going to run the city and campaign at the same time. I don't think Ny'ers would take that too kindly. He may have billions to waste in order to massage his ego but the last guy did too. I think he would be more of a spoiler and after several campaigns with Nader, people are tending to be skeptics of the Johnny Come Latelys.