Calls Grow for Bloomberg to Make Up His Mind

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Calls Grow for Bloomberg to Make Up His Mind
By DIANE CARDWELL and RAY RIVERA
Published: January 11, 2008

Nearly every day a tiny new development trickles out from the stealth presidential campaign of Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York. He has talked with Chuck Hagel and Sam Nunn, potential running mates. He has delivered a tart critique of the presidential field. He is conducting intricate polling to test his appeal in all 50 states. Mr. Bloomberg’s dalliance with the idea of running for president has stretched on and on, with his enthusiastic approval despite the public denials. But even before actually entering the contest, Mr. Bloomberg may have already risked losing something: people’s patience.

The political parlor game — Will he run? When will he decide? How much could he spend? — that has so delighted Mr. Bloomberg is suddenly sparking a backlash. Editorial pages from The Wall Street Journal to The New York Post, The Village Voice and The New Yorker have taken him to task. Members of the administration have been rolling their eyes and referring to Kevin Sheekey, Mr. Bloomberg’s political architect, as the deputy mayor for presidential politics.

And a recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University found that 61 percent of New Yorkers thought Mr. Bloomberg had a “moral obligation” to serve out his full term. The survey, of 1,162 New York City voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, also found that while 16 percent wanted to see him run for president rather than for governor, 32 percent did not want him to run for either office....

“It’s a very long prelude, and I think it is becoming a very old story very fast,” said Robert Zimmerman, a communications specialist who is one of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s fund-raisers. “Mike Bloomberg has failed to make a case that he represents an independent movement, as opposed to a former Democratic liberal, former Republican, former Bush-backer running a campaign of opportunism.”

To be sure, there is little indication that ordinary voters around the country have given much thought to a Bloomberg candidacy, especially given the dramatic primary races in the two major parties. But his enormous wealth and willingness to spend it make him someone who cannot be ignored within the political world....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/us/politics/11bloomberg.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

[Deja Q]

1. If he is serious, he needs to show relevant initiative.

Otherwise he ought to bow out.

Either way, the speculations need to stop. Bloomberg is more respectable than any tabloid trash example from hollywood.

[aquart]

3. I wrote that, if he couldn't figure out what to do for the rest of his life

Except rule the world, CALL GORE, and see if he has a list of things he doesn't have time to get to.

[bluestateguy]

2. Exactly where is the grass roots clamor for him to run?

The people in coffee shops in Peoria and county fairs in Kansas? Is it really there? It all seems so astroturfed.

[ronnykmarshall]

4. His ego is the grass roots.

[gratuitous]

5. Got that right

As long as Bloomberg's ego is getting stroked, he'll keep this little game going. As soon as there is a demand for action, though, he'll be gone like a fart in a frying pan. It's not easy for folks in New York, Washington and Los Angeles to hear this, but the entire country is not nearly as preoccupied and obsessed with their status and esixtence as they are.