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Michael Bloomberg Is Officially An Independent |
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Michael Bloomberg, the Democratic politician who ran as a Republican and won the mayorship of New York City has officially changed his party affiliation to Independent. In positioning himself outside of the two party system, Bloomberg is presenting himself as a different kind of politician, and most likely setting himself up for an Independent run at the Presidency in 2008. He says:
When you go to Washington these days, you can feel a sense of fear in the air, the fear to do anything or say anything that might affect the polls or give the other side the advantage or offend a special interest group. The federal government isn’t out front - it’s cowering in the back of the room.
Needless to say, this shakes up the 2008 Presidential race quite a bit. He is extremely wealthy, and has funded his mayoral campaigns out of pocket. Friends have said that he is prepared to fund a Presidential bid with $1 billion, which would immediately catapult him ahead in the fundraising race. On top of that, he has presided over a prosperous New York City, and most likely has as much claim to proven leadership as Rudolph Giuliani in that respect. And what may take the cake, he’s managed to win over both Republicans and Democrats in New York City by intentionally playing outside of partisan rules. He even takes the subway to work every day.
If he decides to run, and that is a big if, I think he could pose a threat to both the left and the right. Question is, does he have a real shot, or will he be another Ross Perot? Personally, I remain skeptical. What do you think?
A Perot for 08? People don’t remember (and I was shocked), but Perot got - wait for it - 18.9% of the popular vote in 1992, according to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election%2C_19 92#Detailed_Results
Maybe independents are more viable than the conventional wisdom goes. And Bloomberg is nowhere near as silly as Perot.
As a long-time independent, I applaud Mayor Bloomberg’s nonpartisanship, and we’ll see whether it’s more than a political ploy… Independents should not endorse any candidate (even an independent one) unless they actively seek our support.
About the Bloomberg story: I recommend reading Jackie Salit’s “The Bloomberg Story” posted on my blog The Hankster for an inside take on the Mayor’s independence: “Actually, the record shows that Mike has become more conservative and less willing to go to bat for independents, the longer he has been in the political game. But, in the early days he took stands on behalf of independents in numerous situations.”
Nancy
Thanks for the tip Nancy. I too wonder if Mike would be viable. I know many people on both sides of the aisle have been talking about what his entry into the race would mean for the parties. How would he split the votes? Which states would be mess up? But for me, the real interest would come forward if he was a viable candidate, not just to split the vote but to actually win. That is something I could get behind pretty quickly, depending, or course, on his politics.
Yes, I don’t think Bloomberg will run at all if he doesn’t think he can win. It will depend on who the nominees of the Dems and Repubs are. But if he were to decide to run, I would hope he would reach out to independents for our support. It takes more than money to run for President! You have to have people on the ground. He should realize this from his experience with the Independenct Party in New York. We were his margin of victory in 2001 and helped mobilize 47% of the black vote in 2005. Voter pull is not simple. It takes organization on the ground and a lot of muscle.
This is the most interesting presidential race I’ve ever seen! Aren’t we lucky!!
With the money he has though, he has the luxury of waiting a while before entering. But yeah, he’d need support on the ground.
Today, the NYTimes had a pretty interesting graphic on Bloomberg’s positions on things: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/06/21/us/politics/21bloomberg_g raphic.html
The only one I have an issue with really is his statement on the war:
Of course, that’s not really an answer that shows his stance on Iraq. It really doesn’t matter what he thinks Congress should do, as he’s not running for Congress. I hope to see his answer to what he would do about Iraq as president if he decides to run. We shall see, but yeah, very interesting indeed.