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America's Other Mayor (Mike Bloomberg)
Opinion Journal (Wall Street Journal) ^ | July 17, 2006 | John Fund

Posted on 07/17/2006 1:36:13 PM PDT by Frank T

Democrats and Republicans here are taking seriously talk that Mayor Michael Bloomberg will run as an independent for president in 2008. One source close to Mr. Bloomberg predicts he will dispose of his multibillion-dollar business holdings next year, give much of it away to charity, and use some of the remainder for a high-stakes presidential campaign. At a dinner party I attended last month, much of the talk was about whether the mayor might run. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, noted that the people around Mr. Bloomberg were clearly making noises about the possibility.

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: mayor; mccain; michaelbloomberg; nyc; nycmayor; rino; thirdparty
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The article brings up two important counter arguments about how a potential Bloomberg "indepenent" Presidental bid would effect the GOP and Dem tickets.

On the one hand, with the Dems seldom winning the popular vote (over 50%), any votes taken away from Republicans will help their candidate in 2008. Alternatively, "moderate" urban voters will see Bloomberg as one of theirs, and will swing a share of votes away from the Dems and their likely solid Left nominee. They aren't Kossacks, but just want competent statist government.

These third party candidates don't win elections, not since the two-party system came about, and all it can accomplish is some additional realignment of voters, and increased political polarization once that occurs. The parties are no longer coalitions of liberals and conservatives vs. other liberals and conservatives of pre- '64 America.

If the rich big government types can get their fingers in both pies (Dem and GOP), they'll take it. But if these people, who include RINOs, find themselves kicked out on the right, it appears they will try and be spoilers. If Bloomberg doesn't run if McCain get the GOP nod, it means that those in his establishment got what they wanted, and that's the political disenfranchisement of conservatives and libertarians in '08. McCain is not a reformer, as Fund calls him, but the ultimate insider, who needs to be stopped. I guess Bloomberg is their side's Plan B.

1 posted on 07/17/2006 1:36:16 PM PDT by Frank T
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To: Frank T

He is the biggest RINO in America...


2 posted on 07/17/2006 1:38:06 PM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - They want to die for Islam, and we want to kill them.)
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To: Frank T

Who, exactly, finds Bloomberg appealing? Who makes up his constituency?


3 posted on 07/17/2006 1:38:31 PM PDT by Darkwolf377 (http://www.savethesoldiers.com/)
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To: Frank T

I think he'd be a good candidate--as an Independent.

That would pretty much assure that Hillary would not be elected.


4 posted on 07/17/2006 1:40:38 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: 2banana

....I would vote for McCain before Bloomberg......really


5 posted on 07/17/2006 1:41:17 PM PDT by NorCalRepub
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To: Darkwolf377

He only needs about 4% of the vote and 4% can sway the election. If he does this you can bet it is a set up by the left and has been in the works a long time.


6 posted on 07/17/2006 1:42:32 PM PDT by Eagles Talon IV
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To: Darkwolf377
No one. This will be an exercise in excessive ego, nothing more. I have no idea who his constituency is, I wouldn't vote for him if he was running against himself.

P.S. Who would go to a dinner party when you know that Chuck Schumer is going to be there?

7 posted on 07/17/2006 1:43:50 PM PDT by CremeSaver
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To: Darkwolf377

I do, for whatever that's worth. In a three-way-race with Clinton and McCain, I'd probably vote for him, ESPECIALLY if it somehow appeared he could win.


8 posted on 07/17/2006 1:52:28 PM PDT by kenboy
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To: NorCalRepub
Really?
9 posted on 07/17/2006 1:52:57 PM PDT by Frank T
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To: Darkwolf377

People who care about promoting abortion above all else. Oh, and the stylish.


10 posted on 07/17/2006 1:53:08 PM PDT by wideawake ("The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten." - Calvin Coolidge)
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To: kenboy
I wasn't being critical btw, I just have never met a fan of his, so I'm glad you answered.

Why would you support him?

11 posted on 07/17/2006 1:54:15 PM PDT by Darkwolf377 (http://www.savethesoldiers.com/)
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To: Frank T
Why is it that people with money always have visions of grandeur? I can't imagine anyone outside of NY voting for this guy.
12 posted on 07/17/2006 1:56:16 PM PDT by wolfcreek
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To: Frank T
oh really.....I don't hate McCain as much as many chest thumpers here....I rate him more a maverick then a RINO cause he actually has an 80 rating per the ACU....so his votes tend to be in line....but he always takes the important issues to rally against us....plus is a media whore....yes I know all that...but his actual voting record (pls, take the emotion out of it) is way better then a true RINO like Spector (40) or so...Chaffee, Collins and Snowe. I an NOT a McCainite...but I think most hate him here just to be included as part of the group....he is NOT hated that much in Ariz (70%) or the nation....must my two cents...and pls DON'T.....again...DON'T take this as support for him....just a synopsis.....too many FReepers hear one thing they don't like and go ballistic......thanks.....
13 posted on 07/17/2006 1:57:50 PM PDT by NorCalRepub
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To: Frank T
First it was Rudy Giuliani, now its Mike Bloomberg.

There are good, solid conservative candidates available in the Republican Party. We don't need to cosnider liberals like Giuliani and Bloomberg for POTUS. Rudy should move back to Brooklyn and open a pizzeria. He won't ever get the GOP nomination, nor will he get my vote either.

14 posted on 07/17/2006 1:58:56 PM PDT by Reagan Man (Conservatives don't support amnesty and conservatives don't vote for liberals!)
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To: Frank T
Why would a Republican vote for Bloomy?

Here in Texas Idiot Strayhorn is running as an independent but the jihad media calls her a Republican in every story. The Texas media is HARD left.

15 posted on 07/17/2006 2:00:14 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: Frank T
with the Dems seldom winning the popular vote (over 50%), any votes taken away from Republicans will help their candidate in 2008

The Dems haven't gotten above 50% of the popular vote since 1976, when Carter got 0.08% above that mark. That was 30 years and 7 presidential elections ago. Bloomberg might take some votes away from the Republican, like in NY, Vermont, Mass., Penn., but I doubt he'd take many Republican votes in the south, midwest, and west. Whereas the Dems can't break 50%, with Bloomberg in the race in '08, they probably wouldn't break 40%.

16 posted on 07/17/2006 2:01:13 PM PDT by Kenny Bunkport
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To: NorCalRepub

I would stay home before voting for any Dem or Rudy, McCain or Bloomy. These people make me ashamed to be called conservative.


17 posted on 07/17/2006 2:02:33 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: Kenny Bunkport; Frank T

Gore didn't get a majority?? The lefty media keeps saying he won the popular vote....


18 posted on 07/17/2006 2:03:35 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: wideawake

What I'm puzzled about is why these people want the government to fund stem cell research? Can't the private sector do the - pardon the expression - devil's work adequately, on their own?

The only answer I can think of is that it would link the highest level government of government with stem cell research, and thus undermine moral grounded legislation to limit it...but it's odd that so many educated people in that part of the country rank such funding so high on their political priorities. It's not a "freedom" issue such as abortion, easy divorce, or gay marriage.


19 posted on 07/17/2006 2:03:52 PM PDT by Frank T
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To: GeronL

.........as is your right.....but I would rather have McCain then Hillary.....any day...you may hate his guts, but he still votes 80% of the time with the Repubs....I'm just talking about the least of two evils....sometimes that is all we can choose from....take it from me...in Calif...haha....


20 posted on 07/17/2006 2:05:38 PM PDT by NorCalRepub
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