Bloom Ponders

Bloomberg 2016?



Bloomberg, Sensing an Opening, Revisits a Potential White House Run

Michael R. Bloomberg has instructed advisers to draw up plans for a potential independent campaign in this year’s presidential race. His advisers and associates said he was galled by Donald J. Trump’s dominance of the Republican field, and troubled by Hillary Clinton’s stumbles and the rise of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the Democratic side. ....... has in the past contemplated running for the White House on a third-party ticket, but always concluded he could not win. A confluence of unlikely events in the 2016 election, however, has given new impetus to his presidential aspirations. ...... would be willing to spend at least $1 billion of his fortune on it ......

He has set a deadline for making a final decision in early March

....... intends to conduct another round of polling after the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9 to gauge whether there is indeed an opening for him ..... a version of a campaign plan that would have the former mayor, a low-key and cerebral personality, give a series of detailed policy speeches backed by an intense television advertising campaign. The ads would introduce him to voters around the country as a technocratic problem-solver and self-made businessman who understands the economy and who built a bipartisan administration in New York. .......

No independent candidate has ever been elected to the White House

, and Mr. Bloomberg’s close Wall Street ties and liberal social views, including his strong support for abortion rights and gun control, could repel voters on the left and right....... Mr. Bloomberg is irked by the perception that he has toyed too often with running for national office, according to several associates, and is said to be wary of another public flirtation. ....

At the same time, these associates said, he has grown more frustrated with what he sees a race gone haywire.

...... At a dinner party late last fall at the home of Roger C. Altman, an investment banker and former deputy Treasury secretary, Mr. Bloomberg delivered a piquant assessment of Mrs. Clinton as a presidential candidate. ...... described her as a flawed politician, shadowed by questions about her honesty and the continuing investigation into her email practices .......

Even a victory by Mrs. Clinton in the Democratic primaries might not preclude a bid by Mr. Bloomberg, his associates said, if he believed she had been gravely weakened by the contest.

....... Bloomberg’s preparations reflected the unsettled state of the race, and the perception that Mrs. Clinton was flagging against Mr. Sanders. ......... voters want “a nonideological, bipartisan, results-oriented vision” that the early primary favorites have not presented. ...... “The fact is Hillary Clinton is behind in Iowa and New Hampshire. That should scare a lot of people — and it does.” ......

Social acquaintances and political and business leaders said they had been surprised to find their encouraging remarks about a possible 2016 campaign answered with intense seriousness by Mr. Bloomberg, who has stressed that he would run if he saw a path to victory.

...... supports many of the Democratic Party’s social policies, he has been a fierce defender of the financial services industry, which is unpopular with many liberals, and enacted aggressive policing policies in New York City that are anathema to left-leaning voters. ......

Bloomberg has seen Mr. Trump’s campaign rhetoric on immigration as especially distasteful.

...... it would be “a terrible thing” for the Democratic Party’s prospects of winning the White House if the former mayor ran as an independent. ...... He governed more in pragmatic ways than in ideals

Bloomberg seriously considering White House bid

aides to the three-term mayor are looking at ballot access issues ..... Bloomberg sees the Republican and Democratic presidential races as becoming increasingly polarized, and neither fits Bloomberg's views. But Bloomberg, who has flirted with Oval Office aspirations in the past, is serious about a possible candidacy .....

A decision will have to be made by the first week of March, likely before it's clear who the Democratic and Republican nominees are

...... the media mogul would be willing to spend $1 billion of his own money on a White House bid. ...... Bloomberg would seriously consider entering the race if it appeared Donald Trump or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz would face Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the general election. ..... The poll was requested after Bloomberg saw Trump's meteoric rise to the top of the GOP field, and he's also eyed a run as Sanders has mounted a serious challenge to Clinton. .....

internal polling found that he would theoretically take away more Republican votes from Trump or Cruz than Democratic votes from Sanders.

..... you know, he was a good mayor of New York, and if he wants to run, it will probably stimulate the debate. I'm all in favor of that ...... a Bloomberg run would split the Democratic vote due to the former mayor's longtime support for greater gun restrictions. ..... Bloomberg, a longtime Democrat who switched to the Republican Party to seek the NYC mayoralty in 2001, but who ran for his third term as an independent, are not new, and he remains a nationally recognized political figure. ...... He launched a research effort into his chances as an independent ahead of the 2008 campaign before ruling out a bid early in the primary fight. He waited until November to endorse President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012 ..... New York Democrats approached Bloomberg to gauge his interest in a presidential run.

Koch brother: Trump plan would 'destroy free society'

GOP kingmaker Charles Koch said he is "disappointed" by the field of 2016 Republican candidates and sharply criticized the rhetoric and policies put forth by front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. .... Koch, who along with billionaire brother David famously pledged to spend $900 million supporting Republicans in 2016, expressed dissatisfaction with the GOP primary thus far ....... Asked about Trump's proposal for a registry of Muslims in the U.S., Koch said, "Well, then you destroy a free society ... Who is it that said, 'If you want to defend your liberty, the first thing you've got to do is defend the liberty of people you like the least?'" ..... Koch also panned Cruz's aggressive strategy to fight ISIS, which has included calls for "carpet bombing" and declarations that Cruz would direct strikes until "sand glows in the dark." ..... "I've studied revolutionaries a lot," Koch said. "Mao said that the people are the sea in which the revolutionary swims. Not that we don't need to defend ourselves and have better intelligence and all that, but how do we create an unfriendly sea for the terrorists in the Muslims communities? We haven't done a good job of that." ....... Noting that 1.6 billion Muslims live around the world, Koch asked, "What are we going to do, go bomb each one of them?" .....Later in the interview, Koch said he was unimpressed by the rest of the Republican field. ....."It is hard for me to get a high level of enthusiasm because the things I'm passionate about and I think this country urgently needs aren't being addressed," he explained.......And though the Kochs' political operation has highlighted their priorities to the candidates, "it doesn't seem to faze them much," Koch said. "You think we could have a little more influence." ......The Koch brothers have said they will not endorse during the primary, and plan instead to save their considerable financial firepower for the general election and the eventual Republican nominee.

Ironic that Bloomberg, a truly self-made billionaire, is Acela elite candidate, while Trump, who took over dad's business, is man o' people.

— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) January 25, 2016