Clinton: Bloomberg won’t need to run

He’s reportedly troubled by the prospect of Bernie Sanders being the Democratic nominee and either Trump or Cruz being the Republican nominee.

The billionaire media executive, who served three terms as mayor of NY, is said to be concerned by Trump’s lasting hold on the Republican field and is anxious about the impact of Sanders’ campaign on Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Democratic nomination.

Bloomberg, 73, had commissioned a poll in December to examine how he would fare against current front runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and will likely enter the race by early March depending the results of the poll.

The former Congressman and husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin thinks Bloomberg has a good shot at the presidency this time around.

Clinton has been endorsed by several members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, including Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Devlopment Julian Castro, the former San Antonio mayor who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick should Clinton win the nomination.

Trump also chimed in Sunday, saying he’d welcome Bloomberg to throw his hat in the ring. “You know, first of all, I was a Senator from NY – I took them on when I was a senator”.

Bloomberg changed his affiliation from Republican to independent in 2007 and has considered running on a third-party ticket in previous presidential elections, but has never put plan into action.

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

Sanders, Clinton’s chief rival, has recently surged in polling in key early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire.

“I would love to have Michael get into the race”. Originally a Democrat, he switched to the Republican party in order to run for mayor, winning shortly after the 9-11 attacks.

The 69-year-old real-estate mogul and one-time reality TV star said of Mr Bloomberg: “He’s very opposite on me with guns and he’s opposite on pro-life and he’s opposite on a lot of things. I would love to compete against Michael”, Trump told CNN. 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.

‘And I think the American people do not want to see our nation move toward an oligarchy where billionaires control the political process, ‘ Sanders continued.

‘Well, the way I read what he said is if I didn’t get the nomination, he might consider it, ‘ Clinton replied.

In a hypothetical three-way race, the Morning Consult survey shows that Bloomberg would pick up 13 percent of the vote, with most of that coming from independents.