Did Bloomberg just....

[whthorse]

Today there's an op-ed by Bloomberg (the mayor of new York City who spent a pile of his own money to get elected). He talks a lot about independence and substance. Basically an empty letter until this part:

And while I have always said I am not running for president, the race is too important to sit on the sidelines, and so I have changed my

Comments

[pheltzer]

He did what any politician does. He threw his money into the race... provided he finds someone he deems worthy. In other words... if someone were to step up with that Bloomberg is comfortable with, they'll feel like they hit the lottery. You'll note he's not backing any candidate now... and the odds of anyone joining the race at this late date, who lines up with Bloomberg's politics, and with the ability are damn near next to nil.

Essentially he's standing off on the sideline waving a flag saying... I'm still relevant... just you wait and see.

[pi3832]

Or, then again, he may just throw his money at who he thinks will win, so he can have a "friend" in the White House the next time he's campaigning.

[sterno]

With campaign finance rules he can only do so much directly, but I'm sure he could toss a 527 together with the spare change in his pocket and flood the airwaves with all kinds of stuff.

The obvious question though is who he'd back. He originally ran as a Republican but that has more to do with the oddities of New York politics than any particular fealty to the party (as illustrated by his leaving it). It seems to me that Obama is the more legitimately independent of the two candidates, but who knows what Bloomberg thinks.