New York Mayor Bloomberg Weighs Presidential Run

New York Mayor Bloomberg
Weighs Presidential Run

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Is Mayor Michael Bloomberg moving one step closer to a run for the White House? New information is emerging about his private polling services, even as he continues denying his intentions to run as an independent for president.

Besides being New York's mayor, Bloomberg is also a data-obsessed billionaire businessman. So it really should come as no surprise that he is quietly collecting and analyzing potential support nationwide should he run for the White House.

It's an approach known as microtargeting, in which research firms working for Bloomberg gather info to create three data groups: strong supporters for the mayor's possible third-party campaign; persuadable supporters; and the millions of volunteers needed to get Mayor Mike's name on the ballot in all 50 states.

"They want a hard-headed sense of their chances," said Doug Schoen, who spearheaded Bloomberg's voter database efforts for his two mayoral campaigns.

It's interesting to note that Bloomberg's public denials about his interest in running are getting weaker every day.

On Thursday, Bloomberg ducked a question from WCBS-TV's Carl Gottlieb.

Gottlieb: "Why are you so coy about running for president?"

Bloomberg: "It's a beautiful day."

If he does run, Bloomberg has told advisers he'd be willing to spend $1 billion of his own money.

At an Oklahoma bipartisan summit earlier this week, the mayor stated only a fact of the day and not his future intentions.

The latest public poll from the Quinnipiac Polling Institute shows New Yorkers would welcome a presidential run: 52 percent say "yes," Bloomberg would indeed make a good president; 39 percent said he would not.

The extensive coast-to-coast research effort shows that Bloomberg is willing to dig deep into his wallet simply to gauge his probability of winning and lining up the proper support network along the way.

For Bloomberg's campaigns in 2001 and 2005, he spent more than $155 million, and in both cases, poured millions into the development of his voter database.

Next comes organization, and Bloomberg operatives believe they could recruit a million volunteers within a month of launching a campaign, aided by information gleaned from the voter database. A major task for the volunteer force would be doing the ground work to get him on the ballot - a tricky process that differs wildly by state.

The first deadline to get on a state ballot is May 12 in Texas, and petitioners can only begin collecting signatures after the state's March 4 major party primary.

Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser declined to comment.

Meanwhile, an overflow crowd of more than 5,000 were cheering for Barack Obama and his Campaign for Change at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City. Hillary Clinton spent some quiet time with Katie Couric at the Clinton home in Chappaqua, talking about her tearful plea to New Hampshire voters, which apparently worked.

"One of my young friends called it 'Hillary unplugged,'" Clinton told Couric.

On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain fresh from his win in New Hampshire and Mitt Romney turned their attention to Michigan, as Huckabee worked to shore up conservative votes.