With Giuliani dropping in the polls, the humor value of a Clinton-Giuliani-Bloomberg subway series is also fading.

Hamlet Bloomberg does need to make up his mind. The clock is ticking and a late-start campaign is guaranteed to be seen as a quixotic waste of money and time.

I can tell by the amount of comments here that the interest in Bloomberg's candidacy is nil among the voting public.

I am again running to split progressive votes so that the devil may remain in power. Of course its not my fault.

What an ego. The only person I know supporting a Bloomberg run is Andrea Mitchell:

"While Democrats and Republicans are choosing their nominee for president in this first primary voting today, there is still speculation, reaching in fact a fevered pitch, as to whether NY Mayor Mike Bloomberg will be joining the race"

It doesn't seem that Bloomberg with all his billions would be able to compete with Obama, if the latter is nominated, which (Obama's nomination) would happen. Of course, a number of top federal government's people would be interested to have Bloomberg instead of Obama. But that is what democracy is for. Only very few people, even it they have a great lot of money, can't APPOINT one of them to be the president.

Here we go again! I dare Bloomberg to run! So that Democrats again can blame a third party for not getting the White House instead of themselfs...

Bloomberg is no Ralph Nader. He is no Ross Perot. He's already in public office. He has billions. He has charisma. He's moderate, and he's smart. He's already got a strong group of political notables behind him.
If Bloomberg runs and Obama gets the democrat nominee, there is no chance that Obama will win. To prove my point, as Bloomberg gets closer to entering the race it will be the Obama supporters that will be the most critical of him.

There are just to many moderate democrats that don't see Obama qualifed to be President of United States.

If Huckabee gets the Republican nomination, and Obama the democrat nomination that guarantees Bloomberg will win.

Actually a moderate third party candidate that actually could win the Presidential race would be wonderful for democracy.

is this the new trend mayors from N.Y.C with bigger egos than the size of the city to run for president??

GO MICHAEL!

I would happily vote for Bloomberg over every Democrat and Republican in the field if I thought he had a real chance to win.

On the other hand, if I thought he would end up being a spoiler, resulting in the election of a Republican, I would grudgingly vote for the Democrat.

I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but Bloomberg is a non entity outside the NE. Perhaps he believes the fact he is the mayor of NYC buys him some level of credibility outside the north eastern US, but I don't see it.

Hillary and company have to be looking at him with daggers in their eyes since his only appeal is to NE liberals. A diluted democrat vote will ensure another GOP presidential victory. But, what the heck, run Michael run!!

these stories are more boring than fred thompson

I think on this, because I think it could happen. Here are the pluses I see:
1) He has an analytical and seemingly brilliant mind and is not impulsive, and if what he says is true, is true, then he is weighing it from the standpoint of what is good for the country.
2) He has experience running a huge business that he built ground up, and also a government, and that combination is rare. It sort of combines the private and the public sector issues in one person.
3) He is a world recognized leader already.
4) He could self finance his campaign and would not be in anybody's pocket [hopefully.]
But here are the negatives:
1) He is not prolife and that's a biggie!
2) He is too interested in being politically correct on issues that he shouldn't be because the issues I am referring too violate GOD's commandments and isn't he Jewish? Shouldn't Jews stand up for what they say they believe or doesn't he believe in the Commandments and laws of GOD? I could not vote for a person who is willing to abandon GOD for any reason. If he ever decides that being the man of GOD for the purposes of GOD that would be a different thing. signed gloria poole RN

Run, Mike, run. Ensure another Republican victory. That way, in 50 years, when China is the new super power, and the US has become the new Argentina, historians will look back at you and Nader and call you "Great Americans."

learn more about the volunteer led effort to Draft Mike Bloomberg at http://www.uniteformike.com

Ms. Poole:

Please learn something about Judaism before you comment on my faith. I know nobody in my synagogue who is NOT pro-choice, including my rabbi. We are (generally) socially left-leaning, with the exception of some in the extremely Orthodox denomination. If you're talking about gay rights, the majority of Jews view that as a private matter.

As a person who considers herself religious, my faith, your faith, and the faith (or rejection of it) has NO place in public life. The Constitution absolutely forbids using faith as a test for office, as well as the establishment of a particular faith as a state religion. Therefore, I would strenuously campaign AGAINST anyone who attempts to encourage people to vote for him or her on the basis of faith, as one Republican candidate is currently doing.

Of course, I encourage you to follow whatever tenets your faith believes. I would also ask you not to speculate on that of someone else. Thank you.

who cares if he runs? once people start flipping over the stones of his history, all sorts of vermin and shadowdwelling deals will crawl out.

that is how one becomes a billionaire.

maybe he wants the GOP vice-prez nod....trade you boardwalk and park place for pennsylvania ave!

NO, MICHAEL!!!!!

He has the money, so why not be president?

The only other qualification is age, and hes old enough.

USA!!!

I don't see anyone too ecstatic about any of the current big party candidates, I do see a huge desire to put the current incompetent administration behind us, look at the turnouts so far.

There is a lot of talk about hope, change and experience... but not much talk about competence. Bush has screwed up so badly in every arena, whoever is the next President will have to be, above all, competent. Very competent. Almost inhumanly competent.

Clinton, McCain, Biden and Richardson all have histories of demonstrated competence.

Obama is a big fat question mark, his bungling during his myspace fiasco, his ill-advised remarks about Pakistan and many other curious "off the cuff" remarks he has made make me wonder if he has ENOUGH competence to qualify for a post Bush presidency.

Bloomberg is competent, he values competence, and my hunch is that ONLY if BOTH the two major parties DO NOT nominate some very competent heavyhitters will he decide to run. I doubt he would run in a Clinton vs McCain scenario, but in a Romney or Huckabee vs Obama or Edwards scenario he just might, and in those sorts of scenarios
Bloomberg would get my vote.

Interesting. He keeps hinting but nothing official yet. You can't say he isn't known outside of Manhattan. He's appeared numerous times on Charlie Rose's PBS program and he's one sharp cookie from what I've seen.

As an Independent, he would be beholden to no one and that would be a very, very good thing.

If he did run it looked like he would take more votes away from the Democratic candidate than the GOP one, I'd vote Democratic. I just don't think this country can weather one more term of Republican politics. Maybe in another 8 years or so... we'll see then.

Will Mayor Bloomberg's Indecision hurt him the same way it hurt Fred Thompson?

http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=1505

.

Any chance Bloomberg had to be a credible candidate evaporated sometime around last January. He would have needed all that time to put an organization together and get on 50 state ballots. Every day he dithers he puts himself further into the Alf Landon class of candidates. Alfie never caught on to the joke, and kept hoping that the next election would let him show that his crushing loss to FDR was a fluke.

Bloomberg COULD do the country a favor by founding a centrist party, but otherwise he helps the Democrats, since the left is pretty satisfied with its gaggle of candidates, and nobody, so far, has decided that if their guy doesn't get nominated the walk. That is 40 to 45 % of the electorate. Bloomberg at best would be fighting for the portion of the voters who make up the 25 % of the country who are center-right. Not enough even to beat Georgie's pals, and certainly not enough to finish second in the fray. He can give disgusted Republicans a place to hide. Maybe, given better times than ours, he could hold down the Republican losses in the Senate and House races, but even then, not by much.

Had he started a party a year ago, he could be recruiting candidates for national and state offices to give him a party to work with should he happen to get elected. Now about all he does is give fatuous reporters something to write nonsense about when they get tired of speculating on Duncan Hunters viability.

Any chance Bloomberg had to be a credible candidate evaporated sometime around last January. He would have needed all that time to put an organization together and get on 50 state ballots. Every day he dithers he puts himself further into the Alf Landon class of candidates. Alfie never caught on to the joke, and kept hoping that the next election would let him show that his crushing loss to FDR was a fluke.

Bloomberg COULD do the country a favor by founding a centrist party, but otherwise he helps the Democrats, since the left is pretty satisfied with its gaggle of candidates, and nobody, so far, has decided that if their guy doesn't get nominated the walk. That is 40 to 45 % of the electorate. Bloomberg at best would be fighting for the portion of the voters who make up the 25 % of the country who are center-right. Not enough even to beat Georgie's pals, and certainly not enough to finish second in the fray. He can give disgusted Republicans a place to hide. Maybe, given better times than ours, he could hold down the Republican losses in the Senate and House races, but even then, not by much.

Had he started a party a year ago, he could be recruiting candidates for national and state offices to give him a party to work with should he happen to get elected. Now about all he does is give fatuous reporters something to write nonsense about when they get tired of speculating on Duncan Hunters viability.

Any chance Bloomberg had to be a credible candidate evaporated sometime around last January. He would have needed all that time to put an organization together and get on 50 state ballots. Every day he dithers he puts himself further into the Alf Landon class of candidates. Alfie never caught on to the joke, and kept hoping that the next election would let him show that his crushing loss to FDR was a fluke.

Bloomberg COULD do the country a favor by founding a centrist party, but otherwise he helps the Democrats, since the left is pretty satisfied with its gaggle of candidates, and nobody, so far, has decided that if their guy doesn't get nominated the walk. That is 40 to 45 % of the electorate. Bloomberg at best would be fighting for the portion of the voters who make up the 25 % of the country who are center-right. Not enough even to beat Georgie's pals, and certainly not enough to finish second in the fray. He can give disgusted Republicans a place to hide. Maybe, given better times than ours, he could hold down the Republican losses in the Senate and House races, but even then, not by much.

Had he started a party a year ago, he could be recruiting candidates for national and state offices to give him a party to work with should he happen to get elected. Now about all he does is give fatuous reporters something to write nonsense about when they get tired of speculating on Duncan Hunters viability.

Good luck to M.D. Lets see you get in this race..

It's not too late for Bloomberg to get into the election -- I think his real plan is to wait until the country votes and then buy the electoral votes he needs!

The last thing this country needs is a billionaire with an ego bigger than the Atlantic running the country.

As a New Yorker who has watched Bloomberg kow-tow to the moneyed class from Day 1 of his mayoralty (when he refused to impose higher taxes on his fellow rich New Yorkers and instead taxed middle-class New Yorkers even higher) and who continues to dole out money to George Steinbrenner and other sports team owners, I can't imagine why we'd want him in charge of the country. Haven't we already got plenty of candidates who do everything big business wants them to?

Bloomberg lists Henry Kissinger as his prime foreign policy adviser (haven't we learned yet that war criminals shouldn't be guiding our nation's interests abroad?), which to me is pretty scary. Mike: stay at home and don't try to buy this election as you've bought the ones here in New York!

yawn

Oh yeah!, just what we need, one more billionaire in office. When are we going to wake up to the fact that neither Billionaires nor Millionaires give a rat's ass about the average Joe? These people inhabit a very rarified atmosphere that does not include the common man or woman.
Anyone who thinks that Billionaires got to where they are by worrying about their fellow man is beyond naive, he is downright stupid!
One thing is certain with Bloomberg, he'll have the jewish vote, so we can have one more who will put Israel's interests before our own and check with AIPAC on all foreign policy matters.

I'd be very suprised if he ran, but if he did, he'd damage the dems chances more than the republicans. Indepenents are going to support him, especially since Clinton has so many negatives. An alternative is all many voters want

http://p2plendingwithprosper.blogspot.com/

Clinton vs Bloomberg vs Republican virtually guarantees the election of the Republican. The red states will mostly go red again. C vs B (or even O vs B if Obama is the nominee) hands several marginal states such as Minnesota to the Republicans. Game over.

Bloomberg in the race would be the Democrats' worst nightmare come true, allowing them to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, again.

Policy-wise it makes little difference. A three-way race (Clinton or Obama vs Republican vs Bloomberg) will pit three committed neoconservatives against each other instead of two. All favor government intervention in the market, individual lives and society at home as well as military intervention abroad. All believe the U.S. is a democracy (it's supposed to be a constitutional republic), and all believe government should function like a giant United Way with a police force and access to unlimited "donations" via taxes to solve all human problems.

All the potential "final contenders" offer more of the same. H. L. Mencken put it best, "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

Bloomberg is dreaming if he thinks he can win, billions and all.

He has been a Democrat, a Republican and now an Independent. No one really knows what he stands for. He has zero foreign policy experience. And I think that we have shown that it is nearly impossible to counter the organization that each party has in every state and locality.

Is he going to share his Billion to every American so that they vote for him or what?
It sounds funny!!

Whoa... Bloomie is going to BUY a nomination???

To Gloria Poole, RN:

I would ask that you brush up on your history of the American Government and our Constitution. There is a clear separation of church and state, which is what the founders of this country wanted so long ago. If Mayor Mike is going to bring that separation back to our country, rather than a continuation of what we have had for the last eight years, then I am all for Mayor Mike running and on that facet alone, will be the reason why I vote for Michael Bloomberg.

Honestly though, I don't see him running until 2012, when the Democrats have pissed away an opportunity to turn this country around because they don't have a candidate that is strong enough to lead, and the Republicans still will be without a major front runner, as 'W' has done a tremendous job of screwing the party for at least the next 8 years. The 'W' image is what every Republican candidate will try to distance themselves from and you know what that makes? More conservative Democrats. So, 2012, Michael Bloomberg, President Elect.

The only remedy for the Elite to maintain power is to enlarge the sphere" (that is, unite all the States under a federal government) "and thereby divide the community, rich vs poor and black against white and Americans vs Native Mexicans, into so great a number of interests and parties that, in the first place, a majority will not be likely, at the same moment, to have a common interest separate from that of the whole, or of the minority; and, in the second place, that, in case they should have such an interest, they may not be so apt to unite in the pursuit of it - WE THE PEOPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICAN NEED TO TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY FROM THE ARMS OF THE QUEEN, CFR, AND THE BLACK POPE!

Run, Bloomie, run ... for the hills (maybe the Golan Heights?) as all the Joes and Angelos zero in on your big bucks!

bloomberg makes gravel look interesting

The power of BRODERISM compels you!!!

I love how all the commenters are mixing up this political stew. My advice is to relax and enjoy the next 10 months. After all no matter who is elected it cant be George W. again---Can it? But I'll have to do some research on the comment that Bloomberg has Kissinger for an advisor.

since the democrats keep insisting that the president wasn't elected in 2000, 2008 is really his chance for a second term.

He does not stand up for those values that identify him as Jewish? This country is supposed to be one in which one's religious beliefs and values are not open to public scrutiny nor are they supposed to be open to public ridicule. So far I have seen a LOT of this in this presidential campaign. It seems that everyone wants to know what the candidates believe, how they worship, how often they go to worship services. Folks, its neither the presses business nor yours despite what you might think! I hope and pray (yes, I do that once in a while but to whom I will not tell) that the IRS gets off its duff and pulls the tax exempt status of the various groups both catholic and protestant who are standing out front asking the questions concerning religion and providing endorsments based on the answers or non-answers of the candidates.
I want to see the BEST candidate for the president win and I do not care what color, nationality, sex, or religion that person may be. However to be honest, so far I have not seen anyone for whom I would walk a mile to give my vote. I guess since every candidate is open to scrutiny where the press and public poke into every part of the candidates life the BEST would rather not run for this office any more.

TOO LOGICAL TO RUN FOR PREXY

MCCAIN'S DEFAMATION IN SC FOR THE 2ND TIME SHOWS THAT POLITICS IS TOO STRESSFUL FOR A RATIONAL PERSON TO WANT IT

BLOOMBERG WOULD BE GREAT AS A CHIEF OF STAFF; VP WOULD BE GOOD, BUT TOO HIGH PROFILE.

BLOOMBERG NEEDS TO SUPPORT A GOOD CANDIDAYE, LIKE MCCAIN, OR CLINTON, AND BECOME SECY OF STATE, OR DEFENSE, OR DHHS OR ANYTHING WHERE COMPETENCE AND INTEGRITY ARE RESPECTED.

Seriously? Bloomberg? That's a Dept Store, yes? Bloomingberg's, Right? Blooningdale's? Whatever. If you don't run, you don't win. How about a realllly big sale? Buy now, and elect the next president! 1/2 off at Bloomingberg's AND a free vice-president with every purchase over $500,000!

Come now, Michael -- How do you stand on Iraq withdrawal, curing the deficit, stem-cell research, global warming . . .

Get serious, or get off the pot.

We have enough flash-pan losers in the race. You adding another won't excite anybody -- certainly not me.

WWR

Get real! He is to late to have a chance. Another publicity stunt.