Mitch Perry
To the surprise of virtually anybody, Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that he will not run for president as an independent this year.
Writing on um, Bloomberg View, the former New York City Mayor announced that after serious contemplation, he will not run this year, despite the concerns he has about the campaigns from both the Democratic and Republican parties.
“As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz. That is not a risk I can take in good conscience,” he writes.
Left unsaid is actually how popular would Bloomberg be on the trail? Although there are many people who admire him, what’s the market for what have been a third New York city based candidate? One known for being a technocrat, who’s not exactly a barnburner on the campaign trail?
Bloomberg was a visionary mayor in many respects in his 12-year reign in New York, and some of the things he was mocked for (such as putting a tax on sodas) were things that have since been done in other parts of the country. His passionate support for gun control might make him unpalatable to Republicans, however, meaning a vote for him would probably take away from the Democratic party nominee.
Bloomberg had made it known that if Bernie Sanders was the nominee, however, he would have no such compunction. Bloomberg likes Wall Street and the (mostly) men who dominate it, and you can bet that he is turned off by what the democratic socialist from Vermont has been espousing on the campaign trail.
He was pretty serious, however. The New York Times reports that his team had “covertly assembled several dozen strategists and staff members, conducted polling in 22 states, drafted a website, produced television ads and set up campaign offices in Texas and North Carolina, where the process of gathering petitions to put Mr. Bloomberg’s name on the ballot would have begun in days.”
Only a multi-millionaire like Bloomberg could afford such an outlandishly difficult process, which tells you how undemocratic our political season truly is.
In other news..
Bernie Sanders is coming to Tampa this Thursday.
In other news, former federal prosecutor Andrew Warren looks serious in his bid to challenge GOP incumbent Mark Ober for Hillsborough State Attorney.
At HART’s regular board meeting on Monday, an FDOT spokesperson admitted that for those in the neighborhoods affected by it, the Tampa Bay Express project will never be “palatable.”
In Plant City, CD GOP incumbent Dennis Ross officially announced his candidacy for re-election.
With Marco Rubio and (perhaps) Ted Cruz campaigning in Florida this week, Congresswoman Kathy Castor blasted them for their 2013 vote against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.
Rubio spoke in Tampa last night. Check out that report here.
