Draft Bloomberg Issues Ultimatum: 10 Days to Decide

Draft Bloomberg Issues Ultimatum:
10 Days to Decide
February 8, 2008

As the GOP appears close to settling on a candidate and the window of opportunity seems to be closing for Mayor Bloomberg's potential independent presidential bid, one effort to draft him into the race is turning up the heat in hopes of pushing him to a decision.

The Draft Bloomberg committee started by Unity08 co-founders Doug Bailey and Gerald Rafshoon has posted a new Web video warning Bloomberg that it's "crunch time" and noting he has 10 days left to pull the trigger on a third party candidacy.

"With ballot access laws in several states requiring early action, time is running out, the committee's press release states. "Virtually any effort to qualify for the Texas ballot, for example, must begin the day after the Texas primary on March 4."

UPDATE: Bailey said there's "nothing magic" that happens in 10 days, it's sort of an arbitray date, assuming that it would take about a week for a candidate to gear up to make a formal announcement. In Bailey's mind, the decision has to be made in this time frame to get out in front of the Lone Star State primary, which is expected to generate a huge turnout and potentially decide the Democratic contest.

Texas has rather onerous ballot access requirements for independent candidates: Roughly 74,000 signatures must be collected and filed by May 8, and I believe if you're cast a ballot for another major party candidate, you're signature isn't valid.

Bloomberg pollster/advisor Doug Schoen recently said the mayor might wait until as late as May to make up his mind, and a ballot-access effort will go forward with the name of a placeholder candidate on the petitions.

UPDATE#2: A ballot access expert tells me that Texas election law prohibts using placeholders for independent presidential candidate, BUT a third party like, say, the Reform Party, could do so, and also has a lower signature requirement - around 46,000.

Rafshoon said Bloomberg "represents an option outside the broken two-party system in Washington," and urged voters to ask themselves whether they want a candidate who has both "proven he understands both how the economy works and how a government can be run successfully," adding: "Bloomberg alone meets both tests."

The video features a digital clock running down, the ticking of a time bomb and footage of an explosion, presumably a terrorist attack. It urges people to sign the petition at DraftBloomberg.com, adding:

"Let him hear from us. So we can hear from him, and have a chance to choose. Time is short. Michael Bloomberg. For America. For all of us. Act now."



SCRIPT: "The Time Is Now"

You hear it when unemployment numbers go up.

Every time another terrorist bomb goes off.

Every day they continue to bicker in Washington.

time is running out. Decisions made now will shape the future of our country, not just decisions by the voters.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has about ten days to decide if he'll take the first steps to be on the November ballot.

Are you satisfied with the choices you have, or do you want a third choice, an independent voice?

Our very best. You can still make it happen.

But 10 days and counting to make sure we have a choice.

Will we have a president who understands the economy because he's built an enormously successful business from scratch?

Will we have a president who really knows how to run a government because he's alrady done it, and done it well.

Can we have a president who owes absolutely nothing to the lobbyists the special interests or the party extremists?

There is still time to have that choice. Come to DraftBloomberg.com and sign the petition asking him to run.

Let him hear from us. So we can hear from him, and have a chance to choose.
Time is short. Michael Bloomberg. For America. For all of us.
Act now.

A real choice for president. Just imagine the possibilities for America.