February 9, 2008
Bloomberg's Campaign Falters Before It Starts
Mayor Bloomberg's un-campaign for President is losing momentum even before it could officially get started. Bloomberg's position on a run has always been that he is not running at any particular point at that time, even as his Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey aggressively pursues advance work for the campaign that is not happening. Political consultant Doug Schoen confirmed that Sheekey has a formal plan in place already that merely needs the Mayor's go-ahead to begin.
Sen. Chuck Hagel has been less shy about the Mayor's desire to head to the White House. Hagel spoke to a reporter for The New York Times Thursday and confirmed that his presence on a Bloomberg for Prez ticket had been solicited. He also said that the chance of a formal campaign beginning is slimming by the day, as John McCain has seized the momentum in the race for the Republican nomination. McCain's moderate views would likely appeal to the very middle-of-the-road populace that Bloomberg was hoping to attract.
On the home front, Mayor Bloomberg blasted real estate firms for making campaign contributions to hopeful Mayoral candidates, specifically saying that it was especially a disgrace that major real estate firms were contributing to candidates equally. The Times quotes him saying, “I can’t think of any reason you’d do it unless you’re just trying to hedge your bets and be on the good side of every one of them. And the only reason you want to do that is you think you’re going to get something for it.”
Mayor Bloomberg paid for both of his campaigns out of his own rather deep pockets, spending about $100 a vote in his bid for re-election. He also worked closely with real estate with real estate developers Peter Kalikow, who was the Chairman of the MTA. Bloomberg also accepted funds from a developer friend to establish his national mayoral campaign against illegal guns,
free taxi, by eatsdirt at flickr
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McCain is not a moderate. Outside of his 'maverick' issues such as immigration and campaign finance, he is one of the more conservative guys in the senate. While the overall Senate averages 45% on a liberal scale, he scores a 15% (according to the commonly used ADA rankings). So Mccain is slightly more liberal than the average Republican (9%), but he is certainly not a moderate, particularly compared to real moderates such as Snowe, or former Senators Chaffee and Dewine. By comparison, Clinton and Obama both have a 95% liberal ranking, which is more liberal than the average democrat (87%).
I do agree that he is marketed quite effectively as a moderate, and his primary victory leaves little room for Bloomberg to enter the race. The same would be true for Obama.
One could argue that, with Romney leaving the race, there is no experienced businessperson left seeking the presidency. In this time of economic/educational/environmental trouble, I damn sure think it would be beneficial to have a leader that can make intelligent decisions.
Get Mike into the race at draftbloomberg.com.
Bloomberg is unpredictable. I think he will enter the race and attract quite a few votes.