Reply #20: That hate word was a reference to your "enmity of the public" comment, and had nothing to do with [View All]

[MADem]

Clinton. Go back and read your own post.

You were the one who pointed out that the rich are disliked for being rich--remember? I asked if you would still feel the hate if YOUR candidate was on the ticket--nothing to do with Clinton, at ALL...except that way too many people who call themselves Democrats, in a rather Freudian way, associate her name with that rather babyish 'Hate' word, thanks to Karl Rove and a bunch of his little water-carriers (some of them obtusely doing his work in this very forum) over the past many years.

Who woulda thought Mikey Bloomberg would so cavalierly switch parties just to avoid a crowded mayoral primary? And admit that he did it, basically, and WIN anyway?

People aren't as loyal to parties as they were in the old days. You see it here on DU all the time. The young are the least loyal of all.

Who knows what the deal is? Maybe the chit-chat over breakfast was "If you get thrashed on Super Tuesday, you can hop on my ticket" OR, "If you lose to Clinton and back me, I'll reward you BIG"--supposedly, it's cheaper if he picks his running mate NOW, but then again, Bloomberg's got the money to amend ballots if he has to....

From a WAPO story, reprinted at a cretinous site:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/jan/18/signs-point-to-presidential-run-by-bloomberg/

People around Bloomberg have said that if he were to pull the trigger on an Oval Office run, it would happen sometime around March 5. That’s when the petitioning process to get on the ballot in Texas begins. He would need 74,108 signatures by May 12 for an independent run in that state. According to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News, if Bloomberg instead accepted the nomination of the Reform or Texas Independence parties, which have filed their intention to petition with the Texas secretary of state, he would have an additional week to gather only 43,991 signatures.

For the major parties, under normal circumstances, getting on a state’s ballot can be difficult. For an independent challenger, the obstacles are even greater. Usually such a candidate is underfunded and out-lawyered. That wouldn’t be a worry for Bloomberg, who could spend $1 billion of his own money on a campaign.

Value of early running mate

And by having a running mate at the outset, rather than waiting until the late summer, when the Democrats and Republicans will nominate their presidential and vice presidential candidates, Bloomberg would be saved the headache of going back to all those states to amend the ballots to include his No. 2.

The independent mayor has used his own jet to go from one high-profile forum to another to cultivate an image of nonpartisan success. A recent example was a meeting hosted by University of Oklahoma president and former senator David Boren, D-Okla., along with Hagel, Nunn and other possible vice presidential choices. All present decried Washington’s partisan gridlock. Bloomberg didn’t say much and didn’t take questions from the media.

I’ll take Bloomberg at his word that he is not running. Those close to him say he truly hasn’t made up his mind. But this flurry of activity around him squares with my knowledge of the mayor as a deliberative chief executive who takes in as much information as possible before making a decision — even as subordinates stir the presidential pot.