Clinton, Trump, Sanders react to potential Bloomberg White House bid

Jeb Bush said Sunday that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg won’t enter the presidential race as an independent since the major parties won’t end up nominating Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders anyway.

Bloomberg was a longtime Democrat who became a Republican to run for mayor in 2001 and later switched to be an independent.

“If Donald Trump wins and Mr. Bloomberg gets in, you’re going to have two multibillionaires running for president of the United States against me”, he told NBC. The sources told The Associated Press that if Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, the former mayor is not likely to challenge her in a general election.

Trump, speaking by phone to CBS News a week before the Iowa caucuses, said: “I would love it. I know Michael very well, I’d love to compete against Michael”.

Morning Consult found that in a national race involving Sanders, Trump and Bloomberg, Sanders would take 35% of the vote, Trump 34% and Bloomberg 12%. I would love to have Michael Bloomberg run.

Sanders, who is surging against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in early states, urged Bloomberg to “bring it on”.

Bloomberg, who has long privately flirted with the idea of mounting a presidential run, served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. If Hillary Clinton were to get the Democratic nomination, Bloomberg might think differently, but her winning the nomination wouldn’t preclude a bid from him. And the billionaire media mogul is reportedly willing to spend at least $1 billion to fund his own campaign.

The Republican’s 2012 presidential nominee, Mitt Romney is encouraging this year’s field to release their tax returns before the first state contests.

And past year, the New York Post reported that New York Democrats approached Bloomberg to gauge his interest in a presidential run.

“I’m going to do the best I can to make sure that I get the nomination”, Clinton said.

“When you’re not a candidate, you don’t deserve to be evaluated as to whether you’d be a good president or not”, Christie said. Whether Bloomberg could win the race, and whether he would leech more votes from the Democratic or Republican candidate, is unclear.

Advisors with Bloomberg would conduct an assessment on whether he could open an independent campaign after the February 9 primary in New Hampshire. “I’ve met him a couple times, don’t know him well, don’t agree with his stance on the Second Amendment and some other issues”.