Bloomberg leaves Republican Party
 

This "could" make things even more interesting:
Bloomberg leaves Republican Party
NYC mayor, subject of speculation about presidential run, now unaffiliated
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19317522/
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,284612,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/polit...27608620070620

i'm not surprised, I WAS surprised when he ran under the republican party, but it made total sense. My father works for Bloomberg's company... I'm interested to see what he has to say about all this.

Here's a guy who could potentially split the Democrat vote and put another Republican in the White House.

I wouldn't complain.

Eh, I doubt he'll run as a democrat either.

He isn't Rudy. The entire country doesn't know and love (or hate) this guy. He's the mayor of NY, not "America's Mayor"

I doubt he'll affect either side like Thompson is.

Exactly. Which is what is so interesting about the whole thing...My husband and I love Bloomie, but know he could never win the White House. We've been reading a lot about a potential run, and we just don't see how he would ever do it. He is way too smart a man to not realize that he would definitely split the Democratic ticket.

I suppose it could be so he could be picked as someone's (Dem or Rep.) running mate, but we don't see him as VP material - he's way too used to being in charge.

Hmmm, who knows...I do dig his running of the city, though.

Looks like he's just losing the affiliation...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070620/pl_nm/bloomberg_dc

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Wednesday he was not a candidate for the 2008 U.S. presidential election despite having changed his political affiliation to independent from Republican.

A day after announcing the shift, Bloomberg said -- as he has before -- that he intended to serve as mayor until the end of his term in 2009."

Actually I truely wonders who cares waht he does.

He has a lot of $$$$ but I have not been impressed with him as mayor.

If people living outside of NY, NY have to start paying $$ to work there well, that ought to be interesting.:(

They did not want to live in NY, that is why they left!

Rudey, well I see Fred above all of them!:D

Hillary, well, she moved to NY so she could run for the Senate. I think that was called carpetbagging in the olden days!;)

If he splits the Dem vote, it's because he's NOT running as a Dem. Same happened with Perot, Nader, etc... they were liberal independants that ran and got votes that would have probably otherwise gone Dem.

Yeah I messed that up. But I don't think he's a Perot or a Nader. He's not that big of a personality or a name. (although he says he's not running now so the point may be moot)

Well, whether I'd complain would depend on who the Dem and GOP candidates were.

The conventional wisdom I'm hearing is that he he could split the Dem vote if he runs (little credence is being given to his statement that he will not run, since there's so much time left to change his mind), but he could also make things hard for Giuliani.

I've heard some people saying he could take moderate GOP votes. However, I don't think this is credited. If it were Tancredo v. Hillary, sure, he might. However, the discussion I heard revolved around Guiliani v. Hillary, in which case you'd have a slightly moderate liberal matching up against a significantly moderate conservative, and I don't think Bloomberg would really catch the middle-right.

Thats the biggest problem I foresee for the Democrats in 2008. When there is middle ground to be won, you don't throw up 2 very liberal candidates. Adding Gore isn't the answer either. Ideology and hope can be blinding sometimes, and for the left it seems to sometimes come at the expense of smart politics.

Because you're day to day life has so been touched by his mayorship of NYC? :rolleyes:

:confused:Are you talking about the proposed tax on drivers coming into the city? Millions of people living outside NYC work there every day using mass transit. The tax is just an idea, albeit a controversial one, but you make it sound like anyone working in Manhattan will have to pay money to work here. Wrong!

Wrong again. Many people who work in the city would love to live in the city, but it's way too expensive. So we move to the outer boroughs or suburbs so we can have more than a rat-infested studio apartment for our 2K a month.

It's probably fair to point out that, before becoming a Republican, he was a Democrat.

Now, he wants to be an Independent.

Doesn't anyone else think that this guy will accept any label that he thinks is the most popular way of getting a few votes?

He may be a great mayor, but there's a lot of difference between Gracie Mansion and the White House.

You just need to sit down and shut up. You don't know jack shite about anything. The only thing you need to be comparing is Boones Farm and Bartles and Jaymes, you old lush.

From what I've seen of him, I have to agree with you on this one.