Bloomberg Considering White House Bid, Source Says

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on Sunday, January 24, warmly welcomed a mooted run for the White House by Michael Bloomberg, saying he would “love” to go up against the fellow billionaire and former NY mayor.

Now while the idea of a mega-billionaire as president may be a sick joke, Bloomberg’s running for president on his own tab (he’s ready to spend $1 billion of his own money) is no joke at all.

News of Mr Bloomberg mulling a presidential run was first reported on Saturday by The New York Times. Jennifer Horn, the chairwoman of the New Hampshire Republican state committee said, “I think it’s the Democrats who would suffer from a Michael Bloomberg candidacy”.

De Blasio also says he respects his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, but Americans aren’t interested in a race between billionaires Bloomberg and Trump.

Or to put it another way, Bloomberg is a lot like the candidates he would like to run as an alternative to.

And the appeal of a Bloomberg presidency is non-existent.

“He’s very opposite on me with guns, and he’s opposite on pro-life, and he’s opposite on lots of things”, Mr. Trump said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. He sits in third place in Iowa polls behind Donald Trump and Ted Cruz with 12.2 percent, according to averages of recent polling compiled by RealClear Politics. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen.

Bloomberg has instructed advisers to draw up plans for a potential independent campaign in this year’s presidential race.

An independent bid would be a heavy lift for Bloomberg.

Other Republican candidates have also weighed-in on a possible Bloomberg third party run.

Among those who identify with the Democratic race, Jeff Mussman, 59, of Camanche, Iowa, said he was aware of Bloomberg’s post-mayoral efforts to promote tighter gun control laws, an effort he opposes. The remaining question for me is, what path does he see to victory when so many others have come before him and failed miserably in similar quests?

Part of Bloomberg’s motivation to enter the race stems from frustration with Clinton’s campaign, the source said. “The way I read with he said is if I didn’t get the nomination, he might consider it. Well, I’m going to relieve him of that and get the nomination so he doesn’t have to”.

“As a lifelong Democrat, as a former party chairman, it would be very hard for me to do that”, he said. Only environmentalist Tom Steyer spent more money than Bloomberg in the last election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group. If Bloomberg decides to run, the 2016 race could turn out to be the most expensive election in human history given that two billionaires with enormous personal fortunes could end up duking it out.

“It’s not strong to denigrate women, it’s not strong to insult Hispanics…and God forbid it’s not strong to disparage the disabled”, Bush said on CNN.