Tim Russert of NBC Nightly News said this Wednesday evening (June 19, 2007) that Michael Bloomberg is giving up his Republican Party membership and is preparing an Independent run for the White House in 2008. This seems in total contradiction with what I read in the New York Sun —see my previous blog post, I’m not a candidate for president. My next career will be in philanthropy. I’ve done the government thing. So I wanted to listen to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in his own words, to check by myself. I got the video link via Bo Cowgill, whom I want to thank here. Here’s the video: Bloomberg by Bloomberg, at Google, from the “Google Public Policy Blog”. I didn’t know that they had a “public policy blog”, by the way.
Anyway. I have listened to the video, and Michael Bloomberg said this, exactly:
My next career will be in philanthropy. I’ve done the business thing. I’ve done the government thing. [...]
I’m not a candidate for president. [...]
TAKEAWAY: Michael Bloomberg will not throw his hat in the ring. NBC News Tim Russert got intoxicated by some false leaks.
by Paul Sakuma / Associated Press
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STATEMENT BY MAYOR BLOOMBERG ON PARTY AFFILIATION – June 19, 2007
I have filed papers with the New York City Board of Elections to change my status as a voter and register as unaffiliated with any political party. Although my plans for the future haven’t changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our City. A nonpartisan approach has worked wonders in New York: we’ve balanced budgets, grown our economy, improved public health, reformed the school system and made the nation’s safest city even safer. We have achieved real progress by overcoming the partisanship that too often puts narrow interests above the common good. As a political independent, I will continue to work with those in all political parties to find common ground, to put partisanship aside and to achieve real solutions to the challenges we face. Any successful elected executive knows that real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology. Working together, there’s no limit to what we can do.
Source: Office of Mayor Bloomberg – Via the Wall Street Journal
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I would short-sell this event derivative like crazy.
He’s so full of crap.
If it’s non-Hillary vs. non-Rudy, Bloomberg has the Northeast in his pocket, so he runs.
He will not run.
Ok.
I disagree.
Alex Forshaw, have you listened to the one-hour video of Mike Bloomberg at Google?
I have. He is not a candidate for US president.