(Picture courtesy of Time, Inc., credit to Sacha Waldman / Levine and Levitt)According to the Huffington Post, New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been receiving foreign policy briefings from "Nancy Soderberg, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a Clinton Administration foreign policy adviser."
This is very interesting. Despite the Mayor's frequent denials that he plans to run for President, it seems he is continuing to prepare for just that. Why else would he need foreign policy briefings?
I wrote about this before when Mayor Mike first switched from Republican to Independent. Apparently since then, he has quietly been making more preparations.
If he runs, it will throw the 2008 election into a free-for-all. It is hard to say which side a Bloomberg candidacy would pull from the most. As an ex-Republican, you might think it would be the Republican side. But he is also an ex-Democrat and has liberal views on many issues. It would also depend on who he picked as a running mate.
I am not at all sure we won't end up with a Republican president in 2009. If Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, it is likely the GOP would mobilize its base with their hatred of all things Clinton. Rove (or should I say, his replacement) would have a field day digging up old dirt on Hillary and Bill. In the meantime, a Bloomberg candidacy would just confuse things further and, in the ensuing chaos, we might end up with President Romney or President Guiliani. It is a scary thought.
As I've said before, Bloomberg as a candidate is rather appealing. But under our current system, it is impossible for a third-party candidate to win. I often think it would be better if the national election process provided for the possibility of a runoff if no one candidate received a majority of the votes. To me, that would be a fairer way to decide the election. But of course it would require a Constitutional amendment and no one would ever propose it.
In the meantime, we watch and wait to see what is going to happen in 2008.
6 comments:
What? No haiku?
LOL, I've gotten lazy with the haikus! I promise to do one today!
i hope he doesnt run
i would really pute the dem candidate (and i sure hope it aint hillary and i am also not convinced she is getting it) at a disadvantage
I just don't think this will happen. I am a big fan of Mayor Mike but I am not sure. A single, billionaire, east coast Jew? I don't know. Those things do not bother me but...
Anyway you posit some good thoughts here.
As always! Haiku or no haiku!!
I hope he doesn't run either, DCap, for the same reason.
Fran, it would be really ironic if it ended up being a 3-way race between Guiliani, Clinton and Bloomberg. All from New York!
We shall see what happens I guess. Maybe he could be a running mate for the Democratic nominee. That might be interesting.
That would be pretty funny!
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