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.

Gerald Rafshoon, one of the group's founders, said that while he's not endorsing any candidate at this stage, Bloomberg has some intriguing qualities as a Democrat-turned-Republican who has displayed a strong independent streak.

"He's a very independent thinker," said Rafshoon, a former communications director in the Carter White House. "He has a lot of stands on issues that are more associated with Democrats than Republicans."

The group has also met with aides to Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., who hinted over the weekend that he could see himself teaming up with Bloomberg in a national campaign. Because both men are Republicans, they would have to include Democrats on their team — perhaps as potential candidate members— to win the Unity 08 nomination, which will be decided at an online convention in June 2008.

"I can assure you that both of those offices are fully aware, fully aware, of what we're doing," said Doug Bailey, Unity 08's president and CEO.

Kevin Sheekey, the mayor's closest political adviser, told Time magazine recently that Bloomberg would consider entering the race if the Democratic and Republican nominees marginalized the political center.

"It's not impossible that that window could open and he could run a viable campaign," Sheekey said. "And if it opens, he should consider it."

Some veterans of past independent campaigns say a Bloomberg run would be foolhardy. Perot, who ran the most credible independent campaign of the last two decades, peaked early in the polls but ultimately fizzled; his most lasting impact, many Republican argue, was handing the White House to Bill Clinton in 1992.

Orson Swindle, a former member of the Federal Trade Commission who is close to Perot, and John P. White, a former Perot adviser, both denied that any members of the Perot team had met with Bloomberg's circle of advisers.

"I think it would be folly. It's very difficult to do, even to be credible," said Swindle, who is supporting Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for president. "For an independent to rally enough people to support him, he's got to be some kind of man of the people, whom the working class can identify with. When I think of Bloomberg, I think of New York City rich."

But Bloomberg has the bankroll — and the popularity, at least in his home city — to make a run if he wants to. A recent poll conducted by the New York Daily News had New Yorkers favoring Bloomberg for president over former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the Republican presidential front-runner, 46 percent to 29 percent.

Russell Verney, a political consultant and longtime adviser to Perot who once ran the Reform Party, said the possibility of Bloomberg spending upward of $1 billion could scare other candidates, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., out of the race.

Verney said he would "absolutely" support Bloomberg if he decided to run.

"With his financial capacity and with the extraordinary way that he's run New York — the practical side of his approach to governance — he's a viable candidate," he said. "This is the most opportune time that a candidate will ever have to run an independent candidacy, with no heir apparent and with the Republicans and Democrats offering a variety of vanilla flavors and politics as usual."

ABC's Rick Klein contributed to this report.