Time Mag: A Moderate Moment

A Moderate Moment
By JAMES CARNEY
Thursday, Jan. 03, 2008

There comes a time in almost every presidential-election cycle when a small but earnest slice of the American political class gathers to lament the tawdry hyperpartisanship taking over U.S. democracy and to call for something new and better, usually in the form of a third-party or independent candidacy. In the 2008 election cycle, the gathering is taking place on Jan. 7, when a group of mostly retired Democratic and Republican officials, all known for their centrist politics, their seriousness of purpose and their commitment to good government, will meet at the University of Oklahoma, where former Senator David Boren is president. He and another former Democratic Senator, Sam Nunn of Georgia, will be joined by 17 like-minded souls, including William Cohen, the former Republican Senator who served as Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense, and Chuck Hagel, the maverick GOP Senator from Nebraska who plans to leave office after this year. The meeting's purpose: to urge the major party candidates to embrace bipartisan governance.

Or else what? Such efforts usually either come to nothing or result in spirited but ultimately failed third-party White House bids (see John Anderson in 1980 and Ross Perot in 1992 and '96). But 2008 is different because Mike Bloomberg, the Democrat turned Republican turned unaffiliated mayor of New York City, might run--and spend $1 billion of his personal fortune on the effort. Both Nunn and Hagel have suggested they would accept an offer to be Bloomberg's running mate. Though publicly coy, Bloomberg is the animating force behind the Oklahoma meeting, and his aides have been feverishly laying the groundwork for an independent campaign in case, as one describes it, "the window of opportunity opens." And if it doesn't--and it probably won't--moderates will have to wring their hands for another four years.

Oklahoman Editorial: The Boren identity: Ex-senator back in political realm

The Boren identity:
Ex-senator back in political realm
The Oklahoman Editorial
Thu January 3, 2008

YOU can take David Boren out of Washington. Can you take Washington out of Boren?

As president of the University of Oklahoma, Boren is part academician, part fundraiser, part athletic booster and part ... politician. The former U.S. senator — among the most popular politicians in state history — has a new mission that strays from his university duties.

He and another former Democratic senator are assembling a "bipartisan” group for a meeting in Norman to brainstorm on getting presidential candidates to "rise to the occasion” and focus on serious issues.

"Bipartisan” in the above sentence is in quotations because most of the folks invited to this soiree are either Democrats or moderate-to-liberal Republicans. They include one-time presidential aspirant Gary Hart and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who may run for president as an independent.

This isn't the first time Boren has drifted back into politics. In 1995 he rubbed shoulders with H. Ross Perot, who was about to launch his second run for the presidency as an independent; Boren was even talked up to be Perot's running mate. In 1996, Boren was a major spokesman for the campaign to defeat a state question that would have limited property tax increases.

Boren and former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., are key figures in the upcoming summit in Norman on restoring sense to presidential politics. Seems like a worthy endeavor, and it's a coup for OU to host such a prominent event.

Boren and Nunn say the next president must engineer "a unity of effort” that crosses party lines. It's hard to ignore the political polarization of the Bill Clinton years and the George W. Bush presidency.

Whether the dignitaries who come to Norman will find a way out of polarization is worth watching. Whether the next president will have any interest in acting on the ideas is the burning question.

President Bloomberg ?

President Bloomberg

It's his money, but a race for the White House
might not be the wisest way of spending it.

Thursday, January 3, 2008 12:01 a.m. EST

The first Presidential nominating contests are only beginning, but already New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is stealing attention as a potential third-party candidate. We trust he's read the history of what usually happens to such candidates--they lose, finishing essentially as spoilers.

The billionaire mayor has no shortage of cheerleaders for such a contest, including his staff, assorted consultants, and even the usually hard-headed editors at the New York Sun and New York Post. He's rich enough to get on the ballot in every state, and has been widely quoted as saying he'd spend $500 million or more if he did decide to run. That's more than enough to get his message out, if he can find one.

So far that's the rub, though presumably the Democrat turned Republican turned Independent would try to position himself as a kind of postpartisan progressive "centrist." Along those lines, this Sunday the mayor is ostentatiously attending a conference of other self-styled centrists at the University of Oklahoma. Hosted by former Democratic Senator David Boren, the session will include the likes of former Democratic Senator Sam Nunn, current Republican Senator Chuck Hagel (who famously predicted the "surge" in Iraq would be a disaster), and others who argue that the main poison in our politics is too much partisanship. With so many voters soured on Washington, there's a market for this kind of Rodney King can't-we-all-just-get-along politics.

The question is how big that market would be on Election Day, and our guess is not very. Most third-party candidates have run on some issue or cause that the main parties had ignored. Lincoln and the Republicans supplanted the Whigs in 1860 over slavery, Teddy Roosevelt promised a return to progressive Republicanism in 1912, Strom Thurmond represented Southern segregationists in 1948, and even Ross Perot had the budget deficit in 1992.

We aren't aware of any such cause or idea that Mr. Bloomberg represents. Perhaps he could run on "competence," but that's a less than thrilling call to arms. In our view, Mr. Bloomberg has been a good mayor but not a great one. His main achievements have been taking over the school system from a feckless school board and trying to reform it, to so far mixed results; building on the anticrime progress made by his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani; and breaking down the antizoning and political barriers to developing more of the city's under-used areas.


What Mayor Bloomberg hasn't done is challenge the union status quo over the unsustainable city work force and pensions, which will become a crisis for some future mayor. He has dodged this burden himself because of the revenue boom that has flowed from New York's financial industry in the wake of the Bush tax cuts. He has also been able to play the role of nonpartisan healer in part because Mr. Giuliani was willing to take on the city's liberal interest groups on taxes, welfare, crime and public order. Mr. Bloomberg has a better bedside manner than Mr. Giuliani, but it's also easier to be popular when you're not picking as many policy fights.

We also doubt the conceit that all Washington needs is a President who is a better and more ideologically flexible manager. The reason health-care and entitlement reform are so difficult is because the two main parties have such different visions of how to do it. The next President won't be able to wave those differences away, but will instead have to decide whose solutions to favor. Certainly Mr. Bloomberg won't be able to claim he has more foreign-policy experience.

It's entirely possible that a third-party President would accomplish less than a Democrat or Republican because he would have fewer allies on Capitol Hill. Both Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and Jesse Ventura in Minnesota accomplished much less than they promised as nonideological, nonpartisan Governors.

Mr. Bloomberg would also first have to get elected, and this has to be considered a very long shot. His best chance would be if the two parties nominate candidates on the ideological extremes--say, John Edwards on the left and Mike Huckabee on the right. But even if this happens, which of the 50 states would Mr. Bloomberg be able to win to deny one of his competitors an Electoral College majority? Even if he did carry enough states to throw the election into the House of Representatives, Mr. Bloomberg would then face a majority controlled in all likelihood by Democrats.

Our own guess is that Mr. Bloomberg would cut into the support of the weaker of the two major-party candidates, making victory easier for the other. That was Mr. Perot's main legacy in 1992. After eight years out of power, Democrats are eager enough to win this year that we suspect they will unite around whoever their nominee is to get to 270 electoral votes in a three-man race. Mr. Bloomberg would end up spending $500 million to elect a Democrat he probably would vote for himself if he stayed out of the race. Of course, it is his money.

Analysts speculate on Bloomberg-Boren presidential bid

Analysts speculate on
Bloomberg-Boren presidential bid

By Julianna Parker
Transcript Staff Writer

The bipartisan forum scheduled for Monday at the University of Oklahoma has sparked speculation that New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may announce his intention to run for president at the event.

Key Republican and Democratic leaders will discuss the need for bipartisan presidential leadership at the event is hosted by OU President David Boren, a former U.S. senator and Oklahoma governor, and former Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia. Guests include former members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries and respected political consultants.












The billionaire Bloomberg, a one-time Democrat who switched to the GOP to run for mayor of New York City and now is an independent, continues to attract attention with his travels and speeches but denies he is running for president.

Sunday, Boren also denied that this forum is designed to bring attention to an intended candidacy.

National media began speculating Sunday about the significance of the important forum being held in Norman. Some wonder whether if Bloomberg runs for president, he might add Boren to the ticket as his vice presidential candidate.

Boren said Sunday this forum is not a sign he will be running for vice president. The pairing does make sense, however, to some political analysts.

Boren and Bloomberg seem to respect each other. Boren praised Bloomberg when the former mayor spoke at OU’s May commencement ceremony.

“It would be a powerful running ticket,” said Shad Satterthwaite, OU political science professor, of the possible pairing Monday.

Bloomberg has East Coast clout and enough money to carry him through a bid for presidency. Boren has extensive political experience and is located in the Midwest.

“It would seem to balance the ticket out nicely,” Satterthwaite said.

The real question, though, is whether Boren really wants to leave OU and be the vice president, Satterthwaite said.

“He might be one of those that prefer the role of king-maker rather than king,” Satterthwaite said.

The time may be right for an independent presidential candidate, though.

Because of the electoral college, it is very difficult for independent candidates to succeed, Satterthwaite said. Bloomberg may have enough appeal to make an impact, and U.S. voters may be ready for an independent, he said.

U.S. politics have become more polarized over the last several decades, Satterthwaite said.

In 1970, partisanship reached its lowest point, with Republicans in the House of Representatives voting 60 percent of the time with their party line, Satterthwaite said. Democrats voted with their party 58 percent of the time.

In 2006, Republicans voted with their party line 88 percent of the time, while Democrats voted with their party 86 percent of the time.

The bipartisan conference will come at a good time, Satterthwaite said. Candidates usually court their parties’ narrow voting base before nomination and then once they are nominated try to reach out to a broader audience.

The forum participants will draft a resolution calling for presidential candidates to reach out to moderates now.

The forum at OU Monday will attempt to encourage presidential candidates to be more bipartisan on the campaign trail and in office. There will be a private meeting and then a public conference 11 a.m. Monday in Holmberg Hall.

Other invited guests besides Bloomberg are former Senators Bob Graham, Alan Dixon, William S. Cohen, Charles Robb and presidential candidate and Senator Gary Hart. Top Republicans invited include Sen. Chuck Hagel, former GOP chairman Bill Brock, former Sen. John Danforth, former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Also attending will be former U.S. ambassador Edward Perkins, political consultant Susan Eisenhower and president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency David Abshire.

Julianna Parker366-3550jparker@normantranscript.com

Pushing for a bipartisan approach

Pushing for a bipartisan approach

OU to host political leaders Jan. 7

By Andy Rieger
Transcript Managing Editor






A bipartisan group of a dozen or more influential Democrats and Republicans will meet on the University of Oklahoma campus Jan. 7 in an attempt to encourage the major presidential candidates to refocus the campaign debate from one of partisan squabbling to national unity.

Participants were invited by OU President David L. Boren, a former U.S. Senator and Oklahoma Governor, and former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia. Guests include former members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries and respected political consultants.

"Our political system is, at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time where America must lead boldly at home and abroad," according to the invitation letter signed by Boren and Nunn. "Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion of America's power of leadership and example."

"The next president of the United States will be faced with what has been described as a "gathering storm" both at home and abroad. Serious near term challenges include the lack of a national strategy to deal with our fiscal challenges, our educational challenges, our energy challenges, our environmental challenges, as well as the dangerous turbulence triggered by the current financial crisis," the letter states.

Former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, is among the invitees. However, Boren said the meeting was not an attempt to bring attention to a potential Bloomberg candidacy.

"Bloomberg is just an invitee," Boren said Sunday afternoon. "It's not a Bloomberg for president meeting."

The billionaire Bloomberg, a one-time Democrat who switched to the GOP to run for mayor of New York City and now is an independent, continues to attract attention with his travels and speeches but denies he is running for president.

Other invited guests besides Nunn are former Senators Bob Graham, Alan Dixon William S. Cohen, Charles Robb and presidential candidate and Senator Gary Hart. Top Republicans invited include Sen. Chuck Hagel, former GOP chairman Bill Brock, former senator John Danforth and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Edward Perkins, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and an OU faculty member, will also participate.

Other guests staying in Norman are Susan Eisenhower, a political consultant and granddaughter of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower and David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency.

Many of the invited participants served with Boren during the OU president's time in the U.S. Senate. He has worked with many of them in a bipartisan way. At OU, Boren has spoken out often about the gridlock which has gripped the national's Capitol.

"I look at this as an attempt at public service," he said.

The meeting, to be held at Boyd House with a panel discussion and press conference at Holmberg Hall, is purposely being announced before the Iowa caucuses this week.

"We wanted to be able to announce it before the caucuses to avoid any implication we were reacting to what happens in Iowa," Boren said.

"I am a firm believer in the two-party system but if the candidates don't refocus and pledge to create a unity government, then I'd like to see a cabinet made up of half Democrats and half Republicans," Boren said.

The group has been circulating a draft statement. In Norman, they will meet informally on the evening of Jan. 6 and then formally most of the morning of Jan. 7.

An 11 a.m. press conference and panel discussion is planned. Boren said the panel discussion will be open to the public and faculty, staff and students will be notified through e-mail.

Presentation of the Bipartisan Group on Jan 7 - Open to the public

There will be a presentation of the 'Bipartisan Group' in Holmberg Hall on the OU campus (Norman), 11:00 to noon on 7 January. Open to the public.

Gathering to Discuss Independent White House Run

Gathering to Discuss Independent White House Run

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been pondering an independent White House bid, will join a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans next week at a meeting "challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a 'government of national unity' to end the gridlock in Washington," according to the Washington Post.

"Those who will be at the Jan. 7 session at the University of Oklahoma say that if the likely nominees of the two parties do not pledge to 'go beyond tokenism' in building an administration that seeks national consensus, they will be prepared to back Bloomberg or someone else in a third-party campaign for president."

"Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn (Ga.), Charles S. Robb (Va.) and David L. Boren (Okla.), and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican organizers include Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former party chairman Bill Brock, former senator John Danforth (Mo.) and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman."

December 30, 2007

Bloomberg Moves Closer to Running for President

Bloomberg Moves Closer to Running for President

By SAM ROBERTS
Published: December 31, 2007

Buoyed by the still unsettled field, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is growing increasingly enchanted with the idea of an independent presidential bid, and his aides are aggressively laying the groundwork for him to run.

On Sunday, the mayor will join Democratic and Republican elder statesmen at the University of Oklahoma in what the conveners are billing as an effort to pressure the major party candidates to renounce partisan gridlock.

Former Senator David L. Boren of Oklahoma, who organized the session with former Senator Sam Nunn, a Democrat of Georgia, suggested in an interview that if the prospective major party nominees failed within two months to formally embrace bipartisanship and address the fundamental challenges facing the nation, “I would be among those who would urge Mr. Bloomberg to very seriously consider running for president as an independent.”

Next week’s meeting, reported on Sunday in The Washington Post, comes as the mayor’s advisers have been quietly canvassing potential campaign consultants about their availability in the coming months.

And Mr. Bloomberg himself has become more candid in conversations with friends and associates about his interest in running, according to participants in those talks. Despite public denials, the mayor has privately suggested scenarios in which he might be a viable candidate: for instance, if the opposing major party candidates are poles apart, like Mike Huckabee, a Republican, versus Barack Obama or John Edwards as the Democratic nominee.

A final decision by Mr. Bloomberg about whether to run is unlikely before February. Still, he and his closest advisers are positioning themselves so that if the mayor declares his candidacy, a turnkey campaign infrastructure will virtually be in place.

Bloomberg aides have studied the process for starting independent campaigns, which formally begins March 5, when third-party candidates can begin circulating nominating petitions in Texas. If Democrats and Republicans have settled on their presumptive nominees at that point, Mr. Bloomberg will have to decide whether he believes those candidates are vulnerable to a challenge from a pragmatic, progressive centrist, which is how he would promote himself.

The filing deadline for the petitions, which must be signed by approximately 74,000 Texas voters who did not participate in the state’s Democratic or Republican primaries, is May 12.

Among the other participants invited to the session next Sunday and Monday is Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, who has said he would consider being Mr. Bloomberg’s running mate on an independent ticket.

Mr. Boren declined to say which candidate would be strongest, but suggested “some kind of combination of those three: Bloomberg-Hagel, Bloomberg-Nunn.” He said Mr. Bloomberg would “not have to spend a lot of time raising money and he would not have to make deals with special interest groups to raise money.”

“Normally I don’t think an independent candidacy would have a chance” said Mr. Boren, who is the University of Oklahoma’s president. “I don’t think these are normal times.”

Mr. Bloomberg, who has tried to seize a national platform on gun control, the environment and other issues, has been regularly briefed in recent months on foreign policy by, among others, Henry A. Kissinger, his friend and the former secretary of state, and Nancy Soderberg, an ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration.

Advisers have said Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire many times over, might invest as much as $1 billion of his own fortune (he spent about $160 million on his two mayoral races) on a presidential campaign.

But they warned that while they were confident of getting on the ballot in every state, the process was complicated and fraught with legal challenges, and that Mr. Bloomberg would begin with an organizational disadvantage, competing against rivals who have been campaigning full time for years.

Still, the mayor said this month at a news conference, “Last I looked — and I’m not a candidate — but last time I checked reading about the Constitution, the Electoral College has nothing to do with parties, has absolutely nothing to do with parties. It’s most states are winners take all. The popular vote assigns electoral votes to the candidate, and I don’t think it says in there that you have to be a member of one party or another.”

The key players — virtually the only players — in Mr. Bloomberg’s embryonic campaign are three of his deputy mayors, Kevin Sheekey, Edward Skyler and Patricia E. Harris. Another aide, Patrick Brennan, who was the political director of Mr. Bloomberg’s 2005 re-election campaign, resigned as commissioner of the city’s Community Assistance Unit earlier this year to spend more time exploring the mayor’s possible national campaign.

One concern among Mr. Bloomberg’s inner circle is whether a loss would label him a spoiler — “a rich Ralph Nader” — who cost a more viable candidate the presidency in a watershed political year. One person close to the mayor, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to be seen discussing internal strategy, stressed that Mr. Bloomberg would run only if he believed he could win.

“He’s not going to do it to influence the debate,” the person said.

The mayor was asked last week at a news conference whether a Bloomberg campaign would cost the Democratic or Republican nominee more votes.

“You know,” he replied, “if it’s a three-way race, the public has more choice than if it’s a two-way race, and has more choice in a two-way race than a one-way race. Why shouldn’t you have lots of people running, and what’s magical about people who happen to be a member of a party?”

Sam Waterston, the actor whose former co-star on “Law and Order,” Fred D. Thompson, is a Republican presidential candidate, is a founder of Unity08. That group also hopes to advance a nonpartisan ticket, and Mr. Waterston says the mayor is often mentioned on the group’s Web site as a prospective nominee.

“If he formally embraced Unity08’s principal goals of a bipartisan, nonpartisan, postpartisan ticket — which he’s almost in a position to do all by himself, having been a Democrat, a Republican, and now an independent — and of an administration dedicated to ending partisanship within itself and in Washington, then it’s hard to think of anyone better placed to win Unity08’s support if he sought it,” Mr. Waterston said. “And, of course, there’s nothing that says Unity08 couldn’t draft him.”

Some associates said that after six years as mayor, Mr. Bloomberg was itching for a new challenge — much like he was in 2000 when, as chief executive of Bloomberg L.P., he was flirting with running for mayor.

But Mr. Bloomberg will also have to weigh several intangibles: Can he run for president and serve as mayor of a combustible metropolis simultaneously for eight months? (He believes he can, and would not resign as mayor to run.) Does he want to be president badly enough to sacrifice his zealously guarded personal privacy? (He’s not completely convinced.)

Meanwhile, he thoroughly enjoys the attention, and despite the public denials, suggests that he is poised to run if the political stars align themselves for a long-shot, but credible, independent campaign. During a private reception this month, Mr. Bloomberg playfully presided over a personal variation of bingo, in which guests could win by correctly guessing the significance of the numbers on a printed card.

“Two hundred seventy-one?” Mr. Bloomberg asked.

One guest guessed correctly: It was George W. Bush’s bare electoral-vote majority in 2000.

Diane Cardwell and Raymond Hernandez contributed reporting.

A Bipartisan Invitation

A Bipartisan Invitation

The text of an invitation letter to a gathering at the University of Oklahoma next week where a group of Democrats and Republicans, will discuss issues they want the major-party candidates to address.



December 18, 2007

Thank you for agreeing to join us to exchange ideas about constructive ways in which we might help stimulate a meaningful debate during the current presidential campaign on the important challenges facing our nation.

Our political system is, at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time where America must lead boldly at home and abroad. Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion of America's power of leadership and example.

The next president of the United States will be faced with what has been described as a "gathering storm" both at home and abroad. Serious near term challenges include the lack of a national strategy to deal with our fiscal challenges, our educational challenges, our energy challenges, our environmental challenges, as well as the dangerous turbulence triggered by the current financial crisis.

In the national security arena, our nation must rebuild and reconfigure our military forces. We must develop a viable and sustainable approach to nuclear proliferation and terrorism and greatly strengthen our intelligence and diplomatic capabilities. Most importantly, we must begin to restore our standing, influence, and credibility in the world. Today, we are a house divided. We believe that the next president must be able to call for a unity of effort by choosing the best talent available - without regard to political party - to help lead our nation.

To say the obvious, the presidential debates thus far have produced little national discussion of these and other fundamental issues and plans to address them. If this pattern continues through this important national election, it will produce neither a national consensus for governing nor a president who can successfully tackle these threats to our nation's future. We understand the rough and tumble part of the political process, but without a modicum of civility and respect in our debates, forming a bipartisan consensus on the major issues after the election will be virtually impossible.

With these deep concerns in mind, we will meet over breakfast on the morning of January 7, at 7:30 a.m. at the president's home at the University of Oklahoma and continue our discussion until 11:00 a.m. From 11:00 a.m. until noon, we will hold a public panel discussion - open to students and the media - and conclude with a press conference on the OU campus.

In addition to the opportunity for each participant to make a brief statement at the public panel discussion, we hope to release a very brief joint statement - perhaps no longer than one page - of major shared principles. We will work on that proposed statement and circulate it in advance for your input so that a draft can be placed before us for discussion at the meeting on January 7. Please send comments to us as soon as possible about items and ideas that you feel should be included in our joint statement. Again, we will pool the ideas and prepare a brief draft which we will circulate to you before the meeting.

Hopefully most of us will arrive Sunday evening, January 6, in time for an informal dinner where we can begin our discussion. In deference to the busy schedules of the participants, we plan to make this a short meeting. We will be able to depart by 12:00 p.m. on Monday. Overnight accommodations have been arranged for all participants in an inn very close to the president's house at OU where our private meeting will take place. We are working to arrange private air transportation to and from Norman for participants. We have arranged a plane to originate in New York on Sunday afternoon with stops in Washington and Atlanta, arriving in Oklahoma by 7:00 p.m. The same plane will reverse this route on Monday.

Our hope is that our meeting will help begin a national dialogue on the critical issues facing our nation and the world. We understand that the news of this event will come out before January 7, but ideally we would like to get through the holidays before discussing it with the media. Approximately 15 of us have agreed to participate and we will send you a complete list in the next several days. We thank you for your plans to participate.

Sincerely,

David Boren
Sam Nunn

Boren, Nunn call meeting to challenge candidates

Boren, Nunn call meeting to challenge candidates
John Greiner
Capitol Bureau

NORMAN — University of Oklahoma President David L. Boren and former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia are convening a bipartisan group of nationally prominent political figures next Sunday and Monday Jan. 6 and 7 to challenge presidential candidates to focus on America’s serious issues.

Those planning to attend include New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a possible independent candidate for president; former Democrat U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb of Virginia; Bill Brock, former Republican Party chairman and former Tennessee U.S. Senator; Jim Leach, a former Republican congressman from Iowa; and former Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart, who also served in the U.S. Senate.

Those invited will arrive in Norman Sunday evening and will first meet informally.

They will meet again Monday, Jan. 7, and then go to Holmberg Hall on the OU campus for a public panel discussion — open to students and the media — and conclude with a press conference on the OU campus, Boren said.

“This is not a Bloomberg for president meeting,” said Boren, a former U.S. Senator.

But, if those running for president don’t begin talking about bringing the country together, it could create an opening for an independent candidacy, Boren said.

“We used to work together across party lines and we used to cooperate with each other,” Boren told the Associated Press of his relationships with current and former senators who plan to attend. “It is a message to the two parties: Please rise to the occasion. If you don't, there is always a possibility out there of an independent.

“We need statesmanship, not politics. The meeting in itself implies there could be other possibilities,” than a two-party contest.

However, Boren told The Oklahoman, “This does not signal my re-entry into politics. I will stay where I am. I don’t intend to run for anything.”

Some attending the meeting intend to support their party’s nominee for president, Boren said.

The meeting’s purpose probably is best described in the letter Boren and Nunn sent to those who are coming to Norman.

“Today we are a house divided. We believe that the next president must be able to call for a unity of effort by choosing the best talent available — without regard to political party — to help lead our nation,” they wrote.

The issues Boren and Nunn believe should be discussed in the presidential campaign include a national strategy to deal with the nation’s fiscal challenges and educational, energy and environmental challenges as well as the “dangerous turbulence triggered by the current financial crisis.”

In national security, America must rebuild and reconfigure its military forces, develop a viable and sustainable approach to nuclear proliferation and terrorism and greatly strengthen its intelligence and diplomatic capabilities, their letter said.

“Most importantly, we must begin to restore our standing, influence and credibility in the world,” they said.

Boren said America’s approval rating in the world is at its lowest level in history.

“Cooperating with the rest of the world is important to our economy and national security,” he said

Boren and Nunn were friends while serving in the U.S. Senate.

Boren, a Democrat, was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Nunn, also a Democrat, was chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

Boren, former Governor of Oklahoma, resigned from the U.S. Senate in 1994 to become OU’s president.

Others who plan to attend the meeting are: William S. Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine who later was Secretary of Defense in President Clinton’s administration; Alan Dixon, a former Democrat senator from Illinois; former Florida Democrat U.S. Senator Bob Graham; David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency; Susan Eisenhower, political consultant; Jack Danforth, former U.S. Senator from Missouri and former Ambassador to the United Nations: Edward Perkins, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican and former New Jersey Governor; and Chuck Hagel, U.S. Senator from Nebraska.

Boren and Nunn said the nation’s political system is at the least, badly bent, and many think it is broken at a time when America must lead “boldly at home and abroad.”

“Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion of America’s power of leadership and example,” their letter said.

Boren said he called Nunn about convening this group after reading a poll where a majority of Americans said they didn’t believe our future would be as good as in the past.

“They sense our greatness is eroding,” Boren said.

He’s hopeful that the presidential candidates will rise to the occasion and put the country first, ahead of party.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Bipartisan Group to meet at University of Oklahoma for Independent Bid

"I'm an American before I'm a Republican," said former senator John Danforth (Mo.). He is unimpressed with his party's presidential candidates. (By Craig Sands For The Washington Post)

Bipartisan Group Eyes Independent Bid
First, Main Candidates Urged To Plan 'Unity' Government
By David S. Broder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 30, 2007; Page A04

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans, who will join him in challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a "government of national unity" to end the gridlock in Washington.


Those who will be at the Jan. 7 session at the University of Oklahoma say that if the likely nominees of the two parties do not pledge to "go beyond tokenism" in building an administration that seeks national consensus, they will be prepared to back Bloomberg or someone else in a third-party campaign for president.

Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn (Ga.), Charles S. Robb (Va.) and David L. Boren (Okla.), and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican organizers include Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former party chairman Bill Brock, former senator John Danforth (Mo.) and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman.


Boren, who will host the meeting at the university, where he is president, said: "It is not a gathering to urge any one person to run for president or to say there necessarily ought to be an independent option. But if we don't see a refocusing of the campaign on a bipartisan approach, I would feel I would want to encourage an independent candidacy."

The list of acceptances suggests that the group could muster the financial and political firepower to make the threat of such a candidacy real. Others who have indicated that they plan to attend the one-day session include William S. Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine and defense secretary in the Clinton administration; Alan Dixon, a former Democratic senator from Illinois; Bob Graham, a former Democratic senator from Florida; Jim Leach, a former Republican congressman from Iowa; Susan Eisenhower, a political consultant and granddaughter of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower; David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency; and Edward Perkins, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Bloomberg, a former Democrat who was elected mayor of New York as a Republican, left the GOP this past summer to become an independent. While disclaiming any plan to run for president in 2008, he has continued to fuel speculation by traveling widely and speaking out on both domestic and international issues. The mayor, a billionaire many times over, presumably could self-finance even a late-starting candidacy.

"As mayor, he has seen far too often how hyperpartisanship in Washington has gotten in the way of making progress on a host of issues," said Bloomberg's press secretary, Stu Loeser. "He looks forward to sitting down and discussing this with other leaders."

Until plans for this meeting were disclosed, the most concrete public move toward any kind of independent candidacy was by Unity08, a group planning an online nominating convention to pick either an independent candidate or a ticket combining a Republican and a Democrat. The sponsors, an eclectic mix of consultants who have worked for candidates including Jimmy Carter (D) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), have not aligned with a specific prospect.


Now, some people with high-level political and governmental credentials are moving to put muscle behind the effort. A letter from Nunn and Boren sent to those attending the Jan. 7 session said that "our political system is, at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time where America must lead boldly at home and abroad. Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion in America's power of leadership and example."

At the session, Boren said, participants will try to draft a statement on such issues as the need to "rebuild and reconfigure our military forces," nuclear proliferation and terrorism, and restoring U.S. credibility in the world.

"Today, we are a house divided," the letter said. "We believe that the next president must be able to call for a unity of effort by choosing the best talent available -- without regard to political party -- to help lead our nation."

Boren said he and Nunn, who often collaborated when they headed the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees, respectively, issued invitations to other moderates with whom they had served, and found that almost everyone was willing to come.

"Our hope is that the candidates will respond with their own specific ideas about how to pull the country together, not just aim at getting out their own polarized base," Boren said. "But we will have a couple months before the nominees will be known, and we can judge in that time what their response will be."

Boren said the meeting is being announced in advance of Thursday's Iowa caucuses "because we don't want anyone to think this was a response to any particular candidate or candidates." He said the nation needs a "government of national unity" to overcome its partisan divisions in a time of national challenge he likened to that faced by Great Britain during World War II.

"Electing a president based solely on the platform or promises of one party is not adequate for this time," Boren said. "Until you end the polarization and have bipartisanship, nothing else matters, because one party simply will block the other from acting."

Danforth said he remains a Republican but finds little cause for optimism among the current GOP candidates. "My party is appealing to a real meanness," he said in an interview, "and an irresponsible sense of machismo in foreign policy. I hope it will be less extreme, but I'm an American before I'm a Republican." Danforth has also written critically about the impact of religious conservatives on the Republican Party.

Cohen said his emphasis will be on the issues rather than on a candidacy, adding that he and Nunn will co-sponsor a series of "dialogues" on key topics, aiming to build planks for a possible consensus platform for the next president.

"The important goal all of us share," Cohen said, "is to get government back to the center."

Nunn, for his part, described Bloomberg as "an enormously capable man" but said: "I've made no decision who I'm going to support. Most of us hope to shape the Republican or Democratic side's response, but who knows where this is going to go? I think the country's at the tipping point, and it's going to take a lot more understanding by the electorate for anybody to be able to lead."