Will Bloomberg Spend a Billion to Run?

May 16, 2007 — -- What would make anyone think New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is running for president?

Certainly not the speeches he's giving far from New York City, where he talks about energy policy and illegal guns in places like Oklahoma and Texas. It couldn't be his Web site — recently relaunched even though he's barred from running for a third term as mayor — or the meetings his advisers are quietly having with political veterans.

And all those well-timed news stories, such as a Washington Times piece this week reporting that Bloomberg is prepared to spend $1 billion of his $5.5 billion fortune on an independent run for president, are pure coincidence, right?

Bloomberg has consistently denied harboring interest in a White House run, but always in a sort of playfully worded way that makes it look like the mayor just might be enjoying all the attention.

On Tuesday, for instance, responding to reports that his aides had met with former advisers to Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire who ran for president in 1992 and 1996, what Bloomberg didn't say was as revealing as what he did.

"I have never met with any senior advisers to Ross Perot," the mayor said, not indicating whether his aides had any such meetings. "Ross is a good guy, and many years ago I played golf with him. In Bermuda he lives right up the road from me."

If he runs — and, as an independent, he could wait until early 2008 to declare because he doesn't have to worry about the primaries — Bloomberg could be tapping political forces that are already in motion, with a wide swath of the public upset by partisanship and paralysis in Washington.

Unity 08, a bipartisan group that is working to ensure ballot access for a to-be-determined presidential ticket representing a blend of political ideologies, is corralling grass-roots support — and helping gain ballot access — for the type of White House run that could be led by Bloomberg.

Representatives from the organization have met with people in Bloomberg's camp, though Unity 08 leaders declined to say who had initiated the meeting.