Bloomberg said preparing possible White House bid
If Sanders beats Clinton for Democratic nomination, former NYC mayor may well run for president as independent, New York Times reports
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Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has instructed his advisers to prepare plans for a possible independent presidential bid in the 2016 elections, the New York Times reported Saturday.
According to the report, Bloomberg has told associates he is willing to spend $1 billion of his own personal fortune on such a bid if he decides to go ahead with it. The 73-year-old intends to make a decision by early March.
Aides to Bloomberg have been studying past third party bids, the Times said, in order to prepare for a possible campaign.
Last month Bloomberg commissioned a poll to test how he would perform in the 2016 presidential election against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
A second poll is scheduled for February, after the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, to test the waters on whether he could indeed present a viable candidacy, two sources informed the newspaper.
Bloomberg’s decision will likely hinge on whether former secretary of state Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination or whether Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — once viewed as a long-shot but now considered a real threat to Clinton — clinches it.
“Mike Bloomberg for president rests on the not-impossible but somewhat unlikely circumstance of either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz versus Bernie Sanders,” former Democratic National Committee Chairman Edward Rendell told the Times.
“If Hillary wins the nomination, Hillary is mainstream enough that Mike won’t have a chance, and Mike’s not going to go on a suicide mission,” Rendell said.
But if Sanders wins, even Rendell said a Bloomberg bid would be something to consider.
“As a lifelong Democrat, as a former party chairman, it would be very hard for me to do that,” he said. “But I would certainly take a look at it — absolutely.”
In August of 2015, media mogul Rupert Murdoch called on Bloomberg to throw his hat in the ring for the election.
Bloomberg, who is Jewish, served as mayor of New York City from 2001 to the end of 2013. In 2014, he returned as CEO to Bloomberg L.P., the multibillion-dollar firm he co-founded.
JTA contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.