Bloomberg's secret White House bid

[Greeby]

Source: The Telegraph (UK)

Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and mayor of New York, is secretly building the financial and organisational foundations of an audacious third-party presidential candidacy that would transform the 2008 race for the White House.

Michael Bloomberg's secret presidential bid
A recent poll gave Mr Bloomberg a 73 per cent approval rating among New Yorkers

“He wants to do this, he thinks he could win it and he thinks he could be a great president,” said a source closely connected to the mayor’s inner circle.

“Mike Bloomberg has got $500 million to spend and he is supremely confident.”

The Daily Telegraph has established that a senior aide to Mr Bloomberg has held three lunch meetings, two of them last month, with officials from the Independence Party during which there were detailed discussions of how a third-party bid could be launched.

Kevin Sheekey, Mr Bloomberg’s special adviser and chief political strategist, first met Frank MacKay, New York chair of the Independence Party, for exploratory talks in November at Manhattan’s Four Seasons hotel.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/11/nbloomberg111.xml

---

Thoughts? :shrug:

[sniffa]

1. which party wiLL be the most advantageous for him to switch to?

[AlCzervik]

5. Libertarian Whig moose.

:o

[peacetalksforall]

2. Could we raise 500 mil for Al Gore?

[Greeby]

4. Does Al need 500 mil?

At this stage, he just has to announce and he'll win the nomination

[Jim Warren]

3. Yeah, one thought

Wow.
$500M? Wow again.
I'd guess a sure thing is with the pug field so weak in the early going there has got to be any number of goons out there thinking over a "secret" candidacy.

Fred Thompson is showing signs......but he ain't got the $500M stake.

[wakeme2008]

6. This may not be bad for the Dems... IMHO Bloomberg would draw

both from the Dems and the Repugs probably in equal numbers. But still not a winner.

[Captain Hilts]

7. He's the R's only hope, should he decide to run as one. I doubt he'll be an R. nt

[Graybeard]

8. Some big question marks in his bio...

Foreign policy experience? No military service? Divorced from his wife, no first lady? And believe it or not, Mayor Mike has some sexual harassment skeletons in his closet.

http://www.answers.com/topic/michael-bloomberg

[TwilightGardener]

13. Wow, about the sexual harrassment thing--if it was one lady, and

ultimately dismissed as a misunderstanding, then it wouldn't be a big deal. But several women? Getting into "unelectable" territory.

[durablend]

14. Republicans don't mind...

We might find a problem with the whole sexual harrassment thing but the other side really doesn't have a big issue with it (that whole "women need to know their role" thing, y'know).

[Pastiche423]

9. The U.S. has an

Independence party?

I've never heard of it.

[onehandle]

10. Yaaaay!

Democrats win.

Go for it, Ross Perot.

Funnier even, is that we're going to win anyway.

Yaaaay!

[SquireJons]

11. A lot depends on what happens in the next year and a half.

If the Democrats in congress get their act together and create an effective, popularist platform, then Bloomberg will be wasting his money. But if the Democrats stumble around for that long, I think people will probably give him serious thought. Remember that Perot got 20% in 1992 and he had a bad reputation already with no political experience. Bloomberg has Perot beat on both counts.

I have said for a while that America is at a crossroads politically. Many republicans are ready to leave the party, but where will they go? There is already a large independent block and then there's Nader. I think the right third party candidate could not only do well, but also win. The reality is, both parties might be auditioning for their political futures right now because our political system doesn't allow for more than 2 parties. When an new one succeeds, an old one goes away. I wonder who that will that be?

The republicans seem vulnerable, since they are down to their core base in terms of support. But Americans voted in the Democrats to change things and if nothing changes, then America will turn elsewhere. Unity, honesty, guts and competence... that's what America is looking for in political leadership. The race is on.

[blueworld]

12. Bloomers is an anal-retentive bigot, IMHO

He thinks his money bequeaths him the wisdom of Solomon and the Divine Right to dispense it. He controls or crushes according to HIS beliefs, which are always right for everyone else. For example, now he's not only fighting crime all over New York, New Jersey & Connecticut, he's rehabilitating Virginia.

I find that 73% approval rating HIGHLY suspicious - what poll are they referring to?

I'm not interested in any more candidates who think they know what's right for everyone else & will fight to the death to prove it.

I'd like a lot more intelligence, personality and flexibility.

You know, the qualities you have to develop if you're not filthy rich.

:think:

[Bucky]

15. Another northeastern pol about to find out that the world doesn't revolve around lower Manhatten

Despite the 73% approval rate, I have a hard time imagining Bloomberg could put New York's electoral collage votes in play. Maybe New Jersey, New Hampshire, or Connecticut will be impressed by him. He won't be a factor anywhere else. What an utter waste of time and his $500 million.

True fact: Bloomberg is a German word meaning "Ross Perot."

[Eurobabe]

17. Nein, das ist "Flowering Mountain."

:rofl:

Adapted from Blumberg or Blumenberg.

[CK_John]

16. He will run and will be our worst nightmare. He wait until after Feb 5

and will also come out of the gate with a full venue. I believe he will create a major buzz by announcing his VP and cabinet at the same time to show he is ready to fix government. This guy owns a publishing co and has mega bucks and knows how to get top notch staff. Do not underestimate this candidate. If the election were held today, I think he would win big.

[LetsThink]

18. Yeah- Today he was on McLaughlin......

.... trying to defend the proposed immigration legislation as good for business. What's good for business is good for America (automatically), right?

Thought I'd fallen through the looking glass since Buchanan was waving the U.S. Middle Class flag.....

[amandabeech]

19. Buchanan's an odd one.

Rabidly anti-abortion, maybe anti-semitic on one hand.

Seriously interested, and I mean he acts and speaks like it's personal, in the fate of the middle and working classes in the U.S.

I volunteered for Tom Harkin in his ill-fated '92 Presidential bid because in that race he was the champion of the same groups. I remember sitting around campaign headquarters late at night with a staffer watching some political show or another. Pat came on and really laid into corporate globalists, telling them that they were out to kill the average American over a few cents.

Staffer looked at me and said, "My God, he sounds a lot like Tom!" Staffer was in shock. I wasn't. Pat had been saying that stuff for years even back then.

Lots of folks from the Harkin camp are still active and many are very interested in Edwards. So am I.