Bloomberg, Sensing an Opening, Revisits a Potential White House Run

[cali]

Fuck that asshole.

Michael R. Bloomberg has instructed advisers to draw up plans for a potential independent campaign in this year’s presidential race. His advisers and associates said he was galled by Donald J. Trump’s dominance of the Republican field, and troubled by Hillary Clinton’s stumbles and the rise of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the Democratic side.

Mr. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has in the past contemplated running for the White House on a third-party ticket, but always concluded he could not win. A confluence of unlikely events in the 2016 election, however, has given new impetus to his presidential aspirations.

He has retained a consultant to help him explore getting his name on those ballots, and his aides have done a detailed study of past third-party bids. Mr. Bloomberg commissioned a poll in December to see how he might fare against Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton, and he intends to conduct another round of polling after the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9 to gauge whether there is indeed an opening for him, according to two people familiar with his intentions.

If Republicans were to nominate Mr. Trump or Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a hard-line conservative, and Democrats were to pick Mr. Sanders, Mr. Bloomberg — who changed his party affiliation to independent in 2007 — has told allies he would be likely to run.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/nyregion/bloomberg-sensing-an-opening-revisits-a-potential-white-house-run.html?action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=57855781&pgtype=Homepage&_r=0

[Depaysement]

1. Never

I will never vote for him. Never did and never will.

[First Speaker]

2. Wonderful news...let's all celebrate by going out and having a Coke...

[HereSince1628]

4. Do you mean by having a -very- large probably non-diet Coke?

I don't see Bloomberg as anything but another right-center type. Dividing up the center and right to reduce their chances is OK with me.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

3. That seems unlikely.

Odds of Trump winning his primary? ~1/3, perhaps?
Odds of Sanders winning his primary? ~1/6, perhaps%?
Odds of them both winning? 1/18 if so

Odds of Bloomberg beating them both? Not that slim, I think - maybe as much as 1/3, or even 1/2?

But that's still only a 2% or 3% chance of him becoming president.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

10. Cool! Thanks Nate Silver

[Donald Ian Rankin]

12. I wish.

Unlike me, Silver doesn't just pluck his numbers out of the air.

[Eleanors38]

5. Some good: Bernie v Bloomberg over Gunz©.

[NJCher]

6. sounds to me like a ruling class power play

Hillary seems OK to them.

Bernie: not.

Ted Cruz: not.

Trump: not.

Cruz is actually a ruling class stooge of the first order, but for whatever reason, he's unacceptable to many. Maybe they're creeped out by him, too. And then there are always the eligibility issues.

The thing is that Bloomberg is so effing boring. He has zilch charisma. Trump will still be sucking all the air out of the room, so I have to conclude with most of the posters upthread: he won't be a factor, even if he decides to run.


Cher


p.s. Meet the Press will have Bernie, Hillary, and Trump on tomorrow.

[LiberalElite]

7. Boomberg has no chance west of oh,say... The Hudson River nt

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. While i'm not really a fan of Bloomberg...

If he didn't run in the Republican primary to avoid facing Mark Green in the Democrat primary he would be a Democrat darling today.

But at the end of the day Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are unelectable and the Republican centrists and fiscal hawks are effectively homeless in the modern Republican party... This is probably the best election in a generation for an independent to catch wind.

[Stellar]

9. Isn't he the same azwipe that didn't want to get rid of stop and frisk?

F*ck that meat head, why did he think people would want him for President?!

[smirkymonkey]

11. Honestly, as much as I dislike Bloomberg, I would prefer him

to any of the current field. He is at least competent and formerly democratic.

[Autumn]

13. Well fuck, never had a 32 ounce Coke but I may have to have one now. Go for it

Bloomberg. Go for it.