Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg: Another Billionaire Considers Entering The Presidential Race
[guest post by Dana]
Frankly, it’s not entirely surprising given how many times he has toyed with the idea:
Michael R. Bloomberg has instructed advisers to draw up plans for a potential independent campaign in this year’s presidential race. His advisers and associates said he was galled by Donald J. Trump’s dominance of the Republican field, and troubled by Hillary Clinton’s stumbles and the rise of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the Democratic side.
Mr. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has in the past contemplated running for the White House on a third-party ticket, but always concluded he could not win. A confluence of unlikely events in the 2016 election, however, has given new impetus to his presidential aspirations.
Mr. Bloomberg, 73, has already taken concrete steps toward a possible campaign, and has indicated to friends and allies that he would be willing to spend at least $1 billion of his fortune on it, according to people briefed on his deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his plans. He has set a deadline for making a final decision in early March, the latest point at which advisers believe Mr. Bloomberg could enter the race and still qualify to appear as an independent candidate on the ballot in all 50 states.
Whose supporters would he peel off?
It is unclear whether Mr. Bloomberg would be more likely to draw support from a Democrat, like Mr. Sanders or Mrs. Clinton, or a conservative Republican.
While Mr. Bloomberg supports many of the Democratic Party’s social policies, he has been a fierce defender of the financial services industry, which is unpopular with many liberals, and put into practice aggressive policing policies in New York City that are anathema to left-leaning voters.
And when he first ran for mayor in 2001, he did so as a Republican. But he has also poured energy and money into advocating policies that conservative Republicans detest, most notably gun control and immigration reform.
Trump says he believes Bloomberg in the race would take votes away from Hillary.
Allahpundit reminds us of this Bloomberg “self-commissioned” poll:
The million-dollar (well, billion-dollar) question: Who does Bloomberg hurt more? As it turns out, Hillary. Without him in the race, Hillary narrowly leads Trump, 44/42. Even better news for Trump fans is that Trump does better against Hillary in a three-way race than either Cruz or Rubio does. Against Cruz, Hillary leads 38/34/11; against Rubio, it’s 38/33/10. That’s partly a function of the fact that Cruz and Rubio are lesser known to Americans than Trump is, but if you’re looking for evidence that he’ll give her a tougher race by bringing in heterodox Democrats and independents than a more dogmatic right-winger will, there you go.
So how do you think a Bloomberg run would impact Cruz?
On a side note, we may need to define “conservative Republican” for the NYT, as well as remind them that the leading Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, loves her some big Wall St. money.
–Dana
Good morning.
Dana (86e864) — 1/23/2016 @ 9:48 amif he’s running it’s not cause of polls
it’s cause he thinks the skank is gonna get indicted
happyfeet (831175) — 1/23/2016 @ 9:54 amMaybe, happyfeet. I think if Hillary is indicted, Biden will jump in, so where would that then position Bloomberg?
Dana (86e864) — 1/23/2016 @ 9:57 amBloomberg can only hurt the left not a Republican and not Trump or Cruz. The only people who believe Bloomie to be a Republican let alone a conservative are those with New York values.
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27) — 1/23/2016 @ 9:58 amHey, Democrats: MOAR white people in charge!
Simon Jester (2cdd53) — 1/23/2016 @ 10:01 amIn fact, MOAR old white people! That’s the ticket.
Simon Jester (2cdd53) — 1/23/2016 @ 10:01 ami think bloomberg is positioned by his pocketbook
and i just don’t think biden has the skills and executive moxie to ramp up quickly in terms of money and organization in a meaningful way
remember he’s the guy what oversaw the stimulus
and if those are the dark clouds of recession on the horizon…
happyfeet (831175) — 1/23/2016 @ 10:02 amnational soros radio has its finger on the pulse of what concerns real failmericans
hiking gas taxes will be a centerpiece of slutberg’s campaign
and remember you heard it here first
happyfeet (831175) — 1/23/2016 @ 10:10 amI tend to think Dana is right. Biden is a known name to the left and his negatives have got to be a lot smaller. He’s no sicker or older than Sir Hilary. He also has the plus of having been the
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 1/23/2016 @ 10:34 amcourt jesterVice President for the last two terms.And he’s not the only one thinking she’ll be indicted.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 1/23/2016 @ 10:37 amWhat is this? The Year of the Nosferatu?
nk (dbc370) — 1/23/2016 @ 10:53 amPick which authoritarian you want to live under:Trump, Bloomberg or Clinton. They all believe big government is the answer. They all want big government to thrive. No more big gulps, only big government!
Dana (86e864) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:03 ami pick trump
happyfeet (831175) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:03 amAh, just what this race was sorely lacking: an aged white person running from the left.
JVW (d60453) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:19 amYou know, nk, both Trump and Bloomberg are bullies who just know better than everyone else about everything.
And they sure like control.
So—Godwin aside—we need an update of this famous tune, in their honor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MReV9dkAVhY
Simon Jester (74262f) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:19 amI think laughing at these characters is like Kryptonite to them. They burn to be taken seriously.
Simon Jester (74262f) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:20 amny poopers bogarting all the snows
jerks
happyfeet (831175) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:34 amIsn’t it kind of hard to qualify for the ballot in all 50 states as an Independent? I mean, wasn’t there a bureaucratic reason that Ross Perot actually formed his own political party rather than just running as an Indy? Or perhaps Perot wanted to build an entire slate of candidates while Bloomberg is just doing this for his own ego fulfillment.
JVW (d60453) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:37 amand then donald says
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:40 amyou wanna piece of me, heh?
serenity now!
Very good, Simon.
nk (dbc370) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:43 amSome states had rules that required independents to have more signatures for their ballot petitions than established parties, but the Supreme Court has held that now that’s a no-no. I don’t know if that was Perot’s problem, though.
nk (dbc370) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:47 amhe should be helping the children of flint with his money. the flint children are now dying of legionaries disease as well as being poisoned by lead gov. snyder should be arrested for murder.
xeke (b674d9) — 1/23/2016 @ 12:00 pmPinheaded eeek knows that a city controlled by far left Democrats for decades that chose to decouple from a safe water supply (Detroit) in a cost-cutting maneuver needed because of its unfounded public employee pension resulting from the decades of patronage and over-hiring won’t be blamed on anyone but these same far-left Democrats. The scrawny, diseased chickens are coming home… to roost!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/23/2016 @ 12:17 pmhe should be helping the children of flint with his money. the flint children are now dying of legionaries disease as well as being poisoned by lead gov. snyder should be arrested for murder.
Ah yes, a Democrat-dominated city in a state traditionally dominated by Democrats falls apart from gross mismanagement, yet it’s the fault of the brand-new Republican governor. Folks, looks like we have either a brand-new troll, or one of our regulars is using a new moniker.
JVW (d60453) — 1/23/2016 @ 12:19 pm. . . that chose to decouple from a safe water supply (Detroit) in a cost-cutting maneuver. . .
Yep, and Detroit is more than welcome to turn the spigots back on for Flint any time they wish, but of course Detroit has been so thoroughly wrecked by Democrats that they are in no mood to give anything to anybody. Where the left dominates, everything eventually turns into Cuba or Venezuela.
JVW (d60453) — 1/23/2016 @ 12:21 pmflint is so not my problem
happyfeet (831175) — 1/23/2016 @ 1:01 pmJVW, xeke is nate (really Perry). You can’t tell by the overwhelmingly stupid writing style?
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27) — 1/23/2016 @ 1:02 pmNext year when the economy crashes xeke will blame President Cruz.
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27) — 1/23/2016 @ 1:03 pmSomeone asked me on Twitter who I would vote for if I had to choose between Trump, Clinton, and Bloomberg. I demurred, saying I would not choose between Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. I’d just refuse.
But he pressed. And I think, between these three Democrats, if a gun were held to my head, I would pick Bloomberg. I admitted that it is based on ignorance of him; I know him as a pro-choice, gun-grabbing, fun-grabbing, Big Gulp banning, nanny-stating boob. But, I said, as far as I know he lacks the vindictive streak shared by Hillary and Trump.
Luckily, since Trump is not yet President, no gun will actually be held to my head. And so I would retain my God-given right to pass on the whole thing.
Patterico (5f0ab0) — 1/23/2016 @ 6:08 pmBingo.
Leviticus (c3e73d) — 1/23/2016 @ 6:12 pmIf I have to have a zillionaire businessman, I’ll go with the guy we put of last time. I would have NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER voting for Mitt Romney. He could run a campaign based on “I told you so” and win.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:03 pmBut Trump-Bloomberg-Sanders is a pretty tough least-evil choice. On a scale of 1 – 10, where 1 is most evil, they rate 2 – 3 – 1 respectively. Even Jeb! is a 4.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:05 pmAnd actually, thinking about it, Bloomberg is very little different from Obama. The Bill of Rights would be gone, the Bipartisan Party would be safe for our lifetimes, and the cronies would be eating out our children’s and grandchildren’s sustenance long after we were gone.
This election was supposed to be where the people took back control, but Trump was put in to divide and conquer. IF the choice is Trump versus the Known Awful, I’m going to have to put a bag over my head and vote for the Unknown Awful.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 1/23/2016 @ 11:54 pmthe obamasluts at usa today are really really really scraping the bottom of the stimulus barrel
Is your checking account too fat? How to tell and what to do about it
what to do?
lol
food stamp’s tipped us into recession and these sluts are absolutely terrified
happyfeet (831175) — 1/24/2016 @ 6:06 amPatterico (5f0ab0) — 1/23/2016 @ 6:08 pm
Obama has endorsed forcing people to make a choice. My feeling is this could only be passed into law by a state legislature.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/03/19/president-obama-endorses-mandatory-voting/
If the system is to be identical or very similar to that of Australia, I think all it would do is give people some small fine for not showing up at the polls. * People do spoil their ballots in Australia (about 6% in the 2013 election) and 8% don’t vote.
* It is $20 Australian (= $14 US) but things get worse if you ignore the failure to vote notice, which also gives you an opportunity to argue you had a valid and sufficient reason for not voting, and you could get summoned into criminal court and if found guilty, be fined $170, and I guess more bad things happen if you don’t pay that.
http://www.aec.gov.au/faqs/voting_australia.htm
Australia also has group voting tickets and the single transferable vote in Senate elections, which can result in the election of some people whom almost is for as a first choice if a very minor party does good bargaining for otherwise wasted votes.
Sammy Finkelman (dbec95) — 1/24/2016 @ 12:54 pmEven by NY standards Bloomberg is no Republican. The only reason he ran as one is that in 2001 the Democrats had a hotly contested primary between four strong candidates, while the Republican primary had Herman Badillo. Bloomberg decided that it was much easier and cheaper to walk into the R nomination than to fight for the D one and probably lose. Poor Badillo had no chance against him.
But I’m proud to have voted against Bloomberg at every R primary (twice in 2001!), and at every general election. The first two times I voted Libertarian because the D candidates were scary. The third time the Ds put up the non-scary Bill Thompson, so I voted D for the first time in 25 years, because if I must have a D mayor I’d rather he have a D after his name.
Milhouse (87c499) — 1/24/2016 @ 9:30 pmAn aged white New Yorker running from the left. Though the Wicked Witch of Westchester is only a New Yorker by what passes here for courtesy.
Milhouse (87c499) — 1/24/2016 @ 9:34 pm