Bloomberg

[theknife]

Mayor of NYC Michael Bloomberg bails on the GOP, possibly in preparation for an independent run at the Presidency:

NEW YORK -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg left the Republican Party today and switched to unaffiliated, a move certain to be seen as a prelude to an independent presidential bid that would upend the 2008 race.

a Bloomberg candidacy is an interesting thought and he'd be as viable a 3rd party candidate as you can get - he's self-financing, generally gets good marks as mayor of NYC, no ideological baggage to speak of (historically a Dem but became a GOPer to run for mayor), fiscal conservative, social moderate...not a bad package.

so who'd get hurt by a 3rd party Bloomberg candidacy - the Dem or the GOP candidate? Ross Perot picked up 19% of the vote in '92, even after he had imploded as a flake, and Clinton won pretty easily.

"If he runs, this guarantees a Republican will be the next president of the United States. The Democrats have to be shaking in their boots," said Greg Strimple, a Republican strategist in New York who is unaligned in the race.

The belief among some operatives is that Bloomberg's moderate positions would siphon votes from the Democratic nominee. Others say it's not that cut and dry; they say whom he would draw from depends on the nominees.

i'm not sure about that one either - i think there are plenty of moderate Republicans who are pretty disgusted with their party's performance and would bail on the GOP as well, if there was an attractive non-Dem alternative. but is the country ready for a Jewish Prez?