Originally published on the CGS blog on June 20, 2007.
“America’s Mayor” left office in the Big Apple to a fellow Republican, Michael Bloomberg. Mayor Bloomberg used to be a Democrat, turned to the GOP, used the media consulting wizardry of Bill Knapp – who ran all the ads for Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election – and is a pro-business, anti-war guy with lots of personal wealth. (He of the Bloomberg LP, with an estimated worth of anywhere from $5-13 billion).
On Tuesday, Bloomberg made a quick, but not surprising announcement that he is leaving the Republican Party to become an independent. This move, along with his political stature as mayor of the nation’s largest city A-N-D his deep pockets has many people thinking that he might be positioning himself for a third-party run for the White House.
Craig Crawford, contributing editor to Congressional Quarterly , and a political analyst for NBC and MSNBC, (love Craig when he is on MSNBC with Keith Olberman) believes that a Bloomberg run for the White House, hurts the eventual Republican nominee:
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s exit from the Republican Party, heralding the possibility of a presidential run, hurts the GOP more than the Democrats. For starters, it is the Republican Party that he’s leaving – and trashing while doing so.
Even though he was once a Democrat and despite his liberal social views, Bloomberg more naturally appeals to those Republicans who are iffy on social matters but who tend to admire a wealthy businessmen who runs government like a CEO (which he also once was).
As Baltimore Sun reporter Paul West writes, Bloomberg has a stock answer whenever anyone asks him about a possible bid for the presidency:
Bloomberg, 65, who cannot run again for mayor because of term limits, has yet to announce a presidential candidacy. Indeed, while he has stoked speculation, he has seemingly sought to deflate it by denying he has plans to run. “A short, Jewish billionaire from New York? C’mon,” he has said when asked about his potential 2008 candidacy.
In the 1970s there was a cheesy love song by Meatloaf, “Two out of Three ain’t Bad.” According to Bloomberg’s triple play, in my own selfish world, two out of three is bad; I seem to be missing the billionaire, heck, even millionaire component. (being from New York doesn’t seem so bad, from this Motown guy’s view; unless you are a Yankee fan).
