AP sources: Bloomberg eyeing independent White House bid

[rooster59]

AP sources: Bloomberg eyeing independent White House bid

JONATHAN LEMIRE, Associated Press
LISA LERER, Associated Press


NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking early steps toward launching an independent campaign for president, seeing a potential path to the White House amid the rise of billionaire Donald Trump and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Bloomberg has retained advisers and plans to conduct a poll after the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary to assess the state of the race and judge whether there is an opening for him to mount an independent campaign, according to three people familiar with his thinking. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about his plans, which were first reported Saturday by The New York Times.

Bloomberg has set a March deadline to decide on whether to enter the race, to ensure his access to the ballot in all 50 states.

The billionaire media executive, who served three terms as mayor of New York, is said to be concerned by Trump's lasting hold on the Republican field and is worried about the impact of Sanders' campaign on Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic nomination.

Bloomberg's efforts underscore the unsettled nature of the presidential race a little more than a week before the first round of primary voting. The months-long rise of Sanders and Trump has shaken up the political establishment in both parties and on Wall Street, who've struggled to combat their climb in primary polls.

A longtime Democrat who became a Republican to run for mayor in 2001 and later switched to be an independent, Bloomberg would strongly consider a bid if the general election looked like it could turn into a contest between Sanders as the Democratic candidate and Trump or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as the Republican contender.

He is not ruling out a bid if Clinton is ahead on the Democratic side, though people familiar with his plans believe it is not particularly likely Bloomberg would challenge Clinton in a general election. But they said Bloomberg has expressed concern about the damage caused by revelations she used a private email address and server while serving as secretary of state, and he fears she may emerge atop the Democratic field as a weakened nominee.

The two New Yorkers have a cordial relationship, people close to them say. They met privately at Bloomberg's offices a few months before Clinton announced her campaign last April, before an event announcing a philanthropic initiative to measure and track data about issues affecting women and girls. Bloomberg has also spoken at events hosted by the Clinton Foundation.

To prepare for a potential run, Bloomberg has also instructed aides to research previous third-party runs and is said to be willing to spend up to $1 billion of his own fortune, estimated to be about $37 billion, to finance his campaign.

Bloomberg, 73, has no personal animus toward Trump — he believes the real estate developer is "a nice guy," according to one of the people familiar with his plans— and knows him from New York's social circuit and from dealings with Trump when Bloomberg was mayor. But he strongly disagrees with Trump's political positions, particularly his stance on immigration, the person said.

One of the richest people in the United States, Bloomberg has previously toyed with presidential runs, but concluded ahead of the 2008 and 2012 campaigns he could not win.

The founder of the financial news and information provider Bloomberg LP, he was a political novice when he launched an unlikely bid for mayor in 2001.

He was trailing badly in the polls before the 9/11 attacks, but then received the endorsement of the popular then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Bloomberg played up his business expertise and campaigned as the candidate best able to help steady New York's economy in the aftermath of the attacks.

He won a narrow victory and was re-elected handily four years later. He then spearheaded a change to the city's charter to allow him to win a third term in 2009. He oversaw a gilded age in the nation's largest city. Record numbers of tourists arrived. So did young professionals seeking their future. But critics noted the growing gap between the city's rich and poor.

The former mayor is largely a social liberal — he fought for same-sex marriage in New York and is pro-abortion rights. He also became arguably the nation's most vocal proponent of gun control, using his fortune to bankroll candidates across the country who clash with the National Rifle Association, the influential gun rights lobbying group.

But liberals have found fault with his cozy ties to Wall Street and his unquestioned support for the New York Police Department, which drove down crime during his tenure but engaged in tactics that a federal judge later ruled discriminated against minorities.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-01-24

[khwaibah]

Just another floater.

[NeverSure]

He's a liberal. He would split the vote between himself and the Dem nominee and assure a Trump victory.

[craigt3365]

Bloomberg did a very good job running NYC. I'd vote for him.

[Ulysses G.]

I don't like ANY of the top contenders, but Bloomberg would hand the election to Trump. Hillary has been caught lying over and over again, so - IMO - deserves it the least of all of them

[craigt3365]

I don't like ANY of the top contenders, but Bloomberg would hand the election to Trump. Hillary has been caught lying over and over again, so - IMO - deserves it the least of all of them

Things change in a heartbeat in the political arena. Right now, if it was Trump vs. Hillary. The polls show Hillary winning. For better or worse! LOL Interesting comment on Bloomberg's potential bid:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/michael-bloomberg-mulling-run-for-president-as-an-independent-1453568255?mod=trending_now_1

If he runs, Mr. Bloomberg is likely to face hurdles with voters, especially those outside the Northeast, where he is better known. A recent poll by Morning Consult showed Mr. Bloomberg receiving 13% support from voters, Democrat Hillary Clinton getting 36% and Republican Donald Trump 37%. The same poll found that 43% of voters either hadn’t heard of Mr. Bloomberg or had no opinion. Morning Consult said the poll was conducted from Jan. 14 to Jan. 17 among a sample of 4,060 registered voters around the country.

Having lived in NYC, I know about Bloomberg pretty well. As the article states, that won't help him outside the Northeast!

[ezzra]

For a man with so many billions in his piggy bank, what's a billion dollar to just see what he can do

or how far he can go with it, after all, he can't take any of it to his grave or can he?

other than that, I think America will elect an Amish or a monkey to be a president before

they will elect a Jew....

[noitom]

Bloomberg is a creature oif New York City/

[ggt]

Hey Bloomberg can stand before a microphone and lie with the best of them...why shouldn't he run?

[Ulic]

As a centrist he would only suck votes from the main stream of both parties deflating

the moderate turnout at both GOP and Democratic caucuses leaving a Trump-Sanders

presidential race and Trump victory.

[OMGImInPattaya]

A Jewish socialists and a Jewish plutocrat...Americans are spoiled for choice

But Bloomberg does have a bit of the teacher nanny about him...with his jihads against smoking, sugary drinks, and guns and he's literally a tool of the financial services industry...plus he supports police shootings of unarmed minorities...don't think too many Americans will take much of a liking to him for one reason or another.

Edited January 24, 2016 by OMGImInPattaya

[SheungWan]

Bloomberg is a creature oif New York City/

...and you are a creature of..............?

[SheungWan]

A Jewish socialists and a Jewish plutocrat...Americans are spoiled for choice

But Bloomberg does have a bit of the teacher nanny about him...with his jihads against smoking, sugary drinks, and guns and he's literally a tool of the financial services industry...plus he supports police shootings of unarmed minorities...don't think too many Americans will take much of a liking to him for one reason or another.

.....the key point for you being the Jewish bit as the point of definition.

[OMGImInPattaya]

A Jewish socialists and a Jewish plutocrat...Americans are spoiled for choice

But Bloomberg does have a bit of the teacher nanny about him...with his jihads against smoking, sugary drinks, and guns and he's literally a tool of the financial services industry...plus he supports police shootings of unarmed minorities...don't think too many Americans will take much of a liking to him for one reason or another.

.....the key point for you being the Jewish bit as the point of definition.

In this instance yes...because it represents the first serious run by a Jew for the American presidency...just as Barack and Hillary are noteworthy not necessarily for their policies but who they are and what they represent.

[Usernames]

he strongly disagrees with Trump's political positions, particularly his stance on immigration

Another open borders, bring in the hordes, cheap labor, anti-American worker candidate.

[Jingthing]

He can win if the democrats nominate Sanders, but they probably won't and I don't think he'll run if HRC is nominated.

He doesn't have much name recognition outside the Northeast but he can fix that.

He would represent the great middle.

Sanders can't claim that and neither can Trump or Cruz.

I think Bloomberg might be better off if it's Cruz.

Trump might moderate for the general. Cruz won't.

As far as whether a Jew is electable as president in the U.S., I think yes, that is possible but much more likely a highly assimilated more secular Jew, as both Sanders and Bloomberg are. Contrast to ORTHODOX Joe Lieberman. A Jew as a U.S. president is not something American Jews are particularly excited about or striving for ... a very different situation than it was for African Americans or is now Latino Americans. American Jews are already seen as "white" people, they "graduated" to that as did Irish Americans ... and people from the U.S. know what that means, for better or worse.

Of course, people shouldn't assume there will be block voting. If the republicans nominate Cruz or Rubio, both of them will NOT be getting the majority of the U.S. Latino vote just based on ethnicity.

Jews always vote overwhelmingly democratic, but Bloomberg would appeal to them in a similar way as all people who can't stomach electing a socialist.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

To add, there is a practical timing issue for Bloomberg.

He says he will decide by March and by March it will not be fully known who the major parties will nominate.

However, by then, it will be known if Sanders is a serious threat to HRC, or not.

As far as the republicans, Kasich is now doing very well in New Hampshire, and I think in the unlikely event that Kasich looks to be a strong possibility for them by March, that would also dissuade Bloomberg from running.

[sirineou]

what many candidates don't seem to understand is,,,,that people want change.

They know what brought as to this, and THIS is not good for them. Change is what fuels trumps bid, and change is what fuels Bernies bid

only difference is change in different directions, one is the change of hope, the other is the change of fear,

I think hope will prevails but dont underestimate the power of fear.

Bloomberg represents non of this. He like Hillary has an ice cubes chance in hell.

[spidermike007]

I would vote for Bloomberg in a nanosecond. He has alot of credibility, is far more electable than Sanders, and offers an alternative for middle of the road voters such as myself, who shudder at the thought of Hillary as President. I do not dislike her, but I do not trust her, and feel she is bought and paid for. For those of us who do not consider any of the GOP candidates as being credible, nor worthy of the office, he is a good alternative. Besides, I would vote for Godzilla, Rosy O'Donnell, Gary Busey, Will Smith, Bozo the Clown, or Joe the Plumber over Don the Destroyer, who is nothing but an empty suit, waiting to become the warmongering dictator, and king of the world, he has always wanted to be.

So, Bloomberg would offer a good alternative. He was a brilliant businessman (he accomplished far more than the Trump, who is not a great businessman, and has zero integrity), and a very good mayor of NY. He has never declared bankruptcy, nor fleeced his investors as Trump has on four different occasions. And he could command some respect on the world stage, unlike Trump who would be laughed out of nearly every room he stepped into as President.

I like it. I seriously hope he runs.

Edited January 25, 2016 by spidermike007

[OMGImInPattaya]

I would vote for Bloomberg in a nanosecond. He has alot of credibility, is far more electable than Sanders, and offers an alternative for middle of the road voters such as myself, who shudder at the thought of Hillary as President. I do not dislike her, but I do not trust her, and feel she is bought and paid for. For those of us who do not consider any of the GOP candidates as being credible, nor worthy of the office, he is a good alternative. Besides, I would vote for Godzilla, Rosy O'Donnell, Gary Busey, Will Smith, Bozo the Clown, or Joe the Plumber over Don the Destroyer, who is nothing but an empty suit, waiting to become the warmongering dictator, and king of the world, he has always wanted to be.

So, Bloomberg would offer a good alternative. He was a brilliant businessman (he accomplished far more than the Trump, who is not a great businessman, and has zero integrity), and a very good mayor of NY. He has never declared bankruptcy, nor fleeced his investors as Trump has on four different occasions. And he could command some respect on the world stage, unlike Trump who would be laughed out of nearly every room he stepped into as President.

I like it. I seriously hope he runs.

His gun stance alone kills it for me.

[JakeSully]

He's a Republican so he'll take the non Trump voters from Republicans.

He's not a democrat and people in NY hate him and couldn't wait to vote in DeBlasio.

He's not going to get many votes when people know unfettered capitalism is pure evil compared to democratic socialism as shown perfectly by 2008's financial crisis and not 1 banker spending any day in jail.

Guess what.. this will be an election decided mostly by people that were 10-17 year olds in 2008. They have been through the unfettered capitalism disaster by the Bush administration, the housing foreclosure crisis and they've seen how hard it is pay for rising education costs and if obamacare helped them or not as they're still under 26 and on their parent's plan.

Would they agree on their grandparents view of Socialism is pure evil or would they agree on $15 an hour is needed to buy their favorite tech toy. It's also safe to say they will be the highest voting age group just by their numbers. And a fact so ignored by this forum is the last election was decided by demographics.

The Republicans have done everything they can to alienate Mexicans, Latinos, Asians, Blacks, Liberals, Women and Muslims and those who might look Muslim but are not with their massive islamophobia attacks.

All of them are not going to be stupid to give their vote to a sure loser like Bloomberg and then see Trump as President.

[OMGImInPattaya]

He's a Republican so he'll take the non Trump voters from Republicans.

He's not a democrat and people in NY hate him and couldn't wait to vote in DeBlasio.

He's not going to get many votes when people know unfettered capitalism is pure evil compared to democratic socialism as shown perfectly by 2008's financial crisis and not 1 banker spending any day in jail.

Guess what.. this will be an election decided mostly by people that were 10-17 year olds in 2008. They have been through the unfettered capitalism disaster by the Bush administration, the housing foreclosure crisis and they've seen how hard it is pay for rising education costs and if obamacare helped them or not as they're still under 26 and on their parent's plan.

Would they agree on their grandparents view of Socialism is pure evil or would they agree on $15 an hour is needed to buy their favorite tech toy. It's also safe to say they will be the highest voting age group just by their numbers. And a fact so ignored by this forum is the last election was decided by demographics.

The Republicans have done everything they can to alienate Mexicans, Latinos, Asians, Blacks, Liberals, Women and Muslims and those who might look Muslim but are not with their massive islamophobia attacks.

All of them are not going to be stupid to give their vote to a sure loser like Bloomberg and then see Trump as President.

Most likely he's got a bad case of "billionaire's disease." People have been licking his arse for so long that he really thinks he's popular and has some real base of support out there other than his sycophantic employees and people who want his money for their pet causes.