Posted on 12/30/2007 6:55:06 PM PST by NYC Republican
Buoyed by the still unsettled field, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is growing increasingly enchanted with the idea of launching 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
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Here are his talking points:
“Although my plans for the future haven’t changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city,” Bloomberg, 65, said in a statement. “As a political independent, I will continue to work with those in all political parties to find common ground, to put partisanship aside, and to achieve real solutions to the challenges we face.”
“The politics of partisanship and the resulting inaction and excuses have paralyzed decision-making, primarily at the federal level, and the big issues of the day are not being addressed, leaving our future in jeopardy,”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 205-07
June 19, 2007
STATEMENT BY MAYOR BLOOMBERG ON PARTY AFFILIATION
“I have filed papers with the New York City Board of Elections to change my status as a voter and register as unaffiliated with any political party. Although my plans for the future haven’t changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our City.
“A nonpartisan approach has worked wonders in New York: we’ve balanced budgets, grown our economy, improved public health, reformed the school system and made the nation’s safest city even safer.
“We have achieved real progress by overcoming the partisanship that too often puts narrow interests above the common good. As a political independent, I will continue to work with those in all political parties to find common ground, to put partisanship aside and to achieve real solutions to the challenges we face.
“Any successful elected executive knows that real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology. Working together, there’s no limit to what we can do.”
I don't think so:
Although a lifelong Democrat, he ran on the Republican ballot and was elected mayor in 2001, then reelected to a second term in 2005. He is frequently mentioned as a possible independent candidate for the 2008 presidential election and fueled that speculation when he left the Republican Party in June 2007.
He is the Forbes #34 richest, with $11.5 Billion.
An expensive but short run.
If he is any politician at all, he will work with those factions which share enough with him to make a majority. From his record, we can expect that this will consist of Democrats and liberal Republicans. Have you noticed that all the plutocrats are liberal?
And both the GOP and various issue groups (eg the NRA) are going to spend money tearing through his notorious privacy and private life.
Bloomberg is like so many business-types with money playing at politics: he’ll run until he suddenly figures out that the punches are pretty hard, the elbows pretty sharp, at the national level.
I thought he looked like a toe-tapper.
One other aspect I’ve forgotten to mention, but which needs to be remembered:
Bloomberg is Jewish. That carries just as much baggage in the presidential race as Romney’s religion does.
The Clintons probably told him not to cash the check until after Iowa and New Hampshire. If she leads at that time , he’ll cash the check, and run interference for her. In return, if she wins, she’ll name him Secretary of Whining.
True, but not very relevant -- in that case, the Dems have it sown up from the moment the Huckster takes the nomination, short of Hillary getting caught in bed with a 15-year-old girl or a videotape surfacing of Obama giving a jihadist address to a madrassa.
No, Michael, no
Bloomberg makes Fred Thompson look like the 2nd coming of JFK, just a-bl;oomin’ with vim and vigor.
I REALLY hope his trusted friends advise him AGAINST running/ And I honestly don’t know what exactly he’s done for NYC any more than Hillary for New York State/
Idiot can’t even spell, or, with all the money to run NYC government, can’t afford a proofreader: “——the largest event of it’s (sic) kind”. Unbelievable.
They look like a lovely couple!
What do you think, is Bloomberg the ‘pitcher’ or the ‘catcher’?
H. Ross Perot had the advantage of no public record. This enabled people to project whatever they wanted onto him. If one was for gun control or abortion, then Perot was also for it. If one was against gun control or abortion, then Perot was also against those things. With no record, it became virtually impossible to campaign against him.
As Rudy and McCain are finding out, the Republican base is very well informed before they vote. 6 months ago Romney and Huck were unknowns - now they lead the pack. Why? Simple, the base doesn’t pay attention until the election draws near...once the election does draw near, they look at candidates closely and found both Rudy and McCain to be in left field. That is why these candidates are pretty much out of contention.
In the case of Bloomberg, once the Reagan Democrats realize where he stands on guns and abortion and immigration, he’s simply toast with them...and they are, by far, the largest group of independent voters. So these Democrats will stay with Romney and the election will be a rout.
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