Michael Bloomberg plans presidential bid as an independent

Bloomberg, the billionaire and former NY mayor, is considering making an independent bid for the presidency, a move that could mark yet another wild turn in a 2016 race that has already seen more than its share of them.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is reportedly instructing aides to draw up plans for an independent, 2016 run at the White House.

Advisors with Bloomberg would conduct an assessment on whether he could open an independent campaign after the February 9 primary in New Hampshire.

Bloomberg’s aides envision a potential campaign to include a series of “detailed policy speeches” supported by intense television advertising touting him as a “self-made businessman” with a strong understanding of the American economy, and a “technocratic problem-solver” who is capable of leading a successful bipartisan administration, as he did in NY.

Bloomberg would seriously consider entering the race by March if it appeared Donald Trump or Texas Sen.

Representatives for Bloomberg declined to comment on the former mayor’s plans for the presidential race.

The Times report added that, “Mr. Bloomberg’s brain trust has examined previous third-party efforts dating to Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, giving closest attention to the campaigns of John Anderson in 1980 and H. Ross Perot in 1992”. Bloomberg does not think he can beat Hillary Clinton.

Many are saying that the fact that Bloomberg is even considering a run is bad news for Hillary Clinton, who has seen her poll numbers take quite a bit of a hit in recent weeks.

Mr. Bloomberg, who founded the media company that bears his namesake, Bloomberg LP, has a history of switching parties, first running for mayor in 2001 as a Republican before switching his affiliation to independent. “That should scare a lot of people – and it does”.

He’s much more likely to enter the race if Trump or Sen. He was a Republican but was known for left-leaning views.

The theory, according to Edward G. Rendell, the former governor of Pennsylvania and a past Democratic National Committee chairman, is that both the Republican and Democrat tickets would be too extreme, allowing Bloomberg to sell himself as a more moderate alternative.

At the New Hampshire Republican Party “First in the Nation Presidential Town Hall” in Nashua, Senator Rand Paul, who is lagging badly in opinion polls, seemed unfazed by the possibility of a Bloomberg third-party run.

Like Trump, Mike Bloomberg has been labeled a totalitarian.

“If it was President Trump or President Bloomberg, I’d certainly rather have President Bloomberg”, Patricof said.