Bloomberg says he won't run for president

Bloomberg says
he won't run for president
By Henry Goldman
Bloomberg News
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008 12:58 a.m. MST

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a group of former elected officials and U.S. policymakers Monday he doesn't intend to seek the presidency and called for a bipartisan approach by the major party candidates.
The so-called group of 17 convened what it called a Bipartisan Forum at the University of Oklahoma, where its host, former Democratic U.S. Sen. David Boren, is president. It attracted national attention after Boren, 66, said he might support Bloomberg, 65, as an independent candidate for president if the major candidates failed to address key issues.

The meeting heightened speculation that it might be a step toward a Bloomberg candidacy. The billionaire businessman-turned-mayor renounced his Republican affiliation and became independent in June. Although he has said he intends to be mayor until his term ends in 2009, aides have promoted him as a potential third-party candidate.

"Look, I am not a candidate," Bloomberg said in answer to a reporter's question. "I'm a former businessman and a mayor. I think what has changed is that people have stopped working together. Government is dysfunctional. No one is holding themselves accountable to what they promised when they ran for office."

The emergence of Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and Republican Senator John McCain as front-runners for their parties' nominations may undercut the rationale for a Bloomberg candidacy. Obama and McCain base their runs for the White House partly on appeals to independents.
In an interview after the gathering in Norman, Okla., Boren said he took Bloomberg at his word.

"Every indication I have is he does not have a burning desire to run for president of the United States," Boren said. "I think he hopes that the system will work without his having to do that."

The speculation has been fueled partly by Bloomberg's capacity to self-finance the entire campaign. The mayor, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, has wealth that Forbes magazine estimated at $11.5 billion in September.

In 2007, he often focused attention on global warming, illegal gun possession, education, public health and economic development as national and international issues.

Last week, Bloomberg placed newspaper ads in Iowa on the eve of the caucus and in New Hampshire challenging the presidential candidates to support increased penalties for criminal possession of handguns.

Bloomberg and Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, 61, of Nebraska are the only current officeholders among the group that met Monday and neither will be seeking re-election.

Bloomberg is barred by law from running for a third term. The others in the group include eight former senators, a former congressman, three former governors and a former United Nations ambassador.

"These are elders in both political parties who look at the system and find it appalling," said Washington-based pollster Peter Hart. "They're willing to go outside their traditional relationships because they see a country that's obviously in trouble."

Hart said polls his firm has conducted show low public approval ratings for the two major parties and anxiety about the direction of U.S. policy. While a third-party candidacy may be "almost inevitable," he said, it is bound to fail.

"I've never believed you'll get an independent president of the United States," Hart said. "But that doesn't mean it won't change the terms of the debate."

In a Dec. 18 letter, Boren and former Democratic U.S. Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia invited the participants to seek an end to "partisan polarization" that would help restore America's ability to lead in such areas as fighting terrorism, nuclear proliferation and climate change.

"Rampant partisanship has paralyzed the ability of our government to act," Nunn said.

Chris Lehane, a San Francisco-based Democratic political consultant who worked on Al Gore's 2000 campaign, questioned whether the bipartisan forum can have much impact without taking positions on specific issues.

"You can talk about the process being dysfunctional," he said. "But at the end of the day you are going to have enormous issues — Iraq, tax cuts for the rich, global warming — and so far the two parties, with some exceptions, have deep differences."

As for a Bloomberg candidacy, Lehane said, "He's done an extraordinary job in a place that's extraordinarily difficult to govern." But, he said, "you still have to wonder whether there's a road map to be able to win, or you end up as a spoiler."

E-mail: hgoldman@bloomberg.net