Where Bloomberg Fits in Election

Wall Street Journal ^ | 13 December 2007 | By BEN CASSELMAN

[shrinkermd]

Those close to Mr. Bloomberg said the 65-year-old billionaire is considering a White House bid, despite his repeated denials. Moreover, friends and advisers said, developments make a candidacy more conceivable

Shifts atop the polls for both parties in early-voting states suggest uncertainty among some voters about the current crop of candidates, while an increasingly nasty campaign could badly bruise whomever comes out on top, Mr. Bloomberg's supporters said. Gridlock in Congress could open the door for Mr. Bloomberg's nonpartisan message. At the same time, national polls show voters worrying more about the economy and less about Iraq -- a trend that plays to Mr. Bloomberg's strengths.

By all accounts, Mr. Bloomberg remains a long-shot. He is an independent -- a longtime Democrat, he ran for mayor as a Republican and then left that party in June -- and no third-party candidate has ever won the presidency.

He often jokes about the electoral chances of a 5-foot-7-inch Jewish divorcé. His record of raising taxes, banning smoking in bars and clamping down on guns could hurt him among libertarian Republicans and independents who are among his likely supporters

[Greg F]

What a pitiful lineup of candidates. Go Hunter.

[Vaquero]

this liberal will split the dim ticket if he runs as an independent. good for him.

[freespirited]

This has been his plan all along. To knock Rudy out of the GOP race so there is a rationale for him. Then we get Hillary.

[freespirited]

You have it backwards. The polling shows that Bloomberg takes almost all his votes from the GOP.

The RATS are united this time. They want to win very badly and will not waste their votes on Bloomie.

[WayneS]

The only place Mr. Bloomberg should “fit” in the 2008 election is into a large bore cannon so he can be fired over the Canadian border. His anti-individual freedom, big-government, national-socialist politics may play better with our neighbors to the north.

Then again, THEY may decide to launch him at Iceland or something. Either way, he would be out of the U.S. Which will be a good thing.

[samtheman]

Clinton vs. Giuliani vs. Bloomberg.

That would be some subway series.

[freespirited]

And according to Ras, Clinton would win.

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/election_2008_clinton_42_giuliani_39_ron_paul_8

I don’t think Bloomie wants to run against Rudy and Hillary. There is no argument for him against Rudy. That’s why I think his office tipped Politico off on the tryst-fund story. So they could get Rudy out.

Politico hinted as much when they said the story “didn’t come from a campaign.” Well Bloomie isn’t a campaign yet.

[Vaquero]

your polling is flawed.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

No where...outside of NYC he has zero support, especially down south and out west. And don’t even ask Virginians what they think about this clown.

[samtheman]

Election 2008: Clinton 42% Giuliani 39% Ron Paul 8%

Another forty-percent victory for the Clintons. Great.

[1066AD]

Mr. Bloomberg's nonpartisan message

Yeah right.

Bloomie wants to do a Perot - feed his ego and shaft the GOP.

[Betty Jane]

Do you have any links to these polls. Bloomberg is about as liberal as Hillary. He has no conservative positions at all. I don't see him taking Republican votes from people dissatisfied with Giuliani, let alone a conservative.

What does he bring that is different? WHat would be his major theme? He is certainly no Perot who had least connected with dissatisfied voters.

[mysterio]

There is no place for Bloomberg in the Presidential election. He is an authoritarian fruitbat.

[SoConPubbie]

You have it backwards. The polling shows that Bloomberg takes almost all his votes from the GOP.

I sincerely doubt that since he is to the left of Rudy, if that is possible.

[freespirited]

See post 8. Then as you read the article there is a link within it to a previous Ras poll that showed even worse results, Bloomie gave the election to Hillary by 9 percentage points by draining votes from the GOP.

[Cicero]

Well, I confess I’m bewildered by the polling argument. I would have thought he would damage hillary, but I could be wrong. Also, I thought he had recently left the Republican party. And before he was a Republican, he was a Democrat. In the spirit of New York politics, he only ran as a Republican because the Democrats had another candidate they were backing.

But I do know one thing. In the opening of this article, “could badly bruise whomever comes out on top” should read “could badly bruise whoever comes out on top.” That’s a difficult rule of syntax, but the subject of a dependent clause that is the object of the main verb nevertheless should be treated as the subject of the clause it is part of.

(And as Winston Churchill says, there are times when you should end a sentence with a preposition. Orders to the contrary, he insists, are something “up with which I will not put.”)

[JSDude1]

Once again I wish he’d run, but he’s not gonna get my vote!

[kvasir]

you should not, under any circumstances, even consider voting or backing bloomberg. think about it.

[WayneS]

I didn’t really think my post (#6 above) could in any way be interpreted to mean I supported Mr. Bloomberg. Maybe I should have been more direct.