There was plenty of speculation over the summer about whether NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg might run as an independent candidate for president. He’d deny interest, but then tease reporters with some kind of ambiguous answer about intentions. This went back and forth for a while, until in August, Bloomberg stopped being coy.
Asked by Dan Rather if he might run, Bloomberg said, “No.” Asked if there were “any circumstances” in which he would launch a campaign, the mayor added, “Oh, I don’t know. Any — the answer — if I don’t say no categorically you’ll then read something into it. The answer is no.”
A few weeks ago, there Bloomberg was again on the cover of Newsweek, alongside a headline that reads, “The Billion-Dollar Wild Card.” The 7,000-word article broke no new ground — the mayor still said he isn’t running.
But just when it seemed the political world could finally move on to focus on the 16 actual candidates, new information emerges to rekindle the speculative fires. Sam Stein reports:
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been receiving foreign policy briefing sessions on a wide variety of topics, providing the strongest indication yet that he is considering a run for the White House, the Huffington Post has learned.
The sessions, which were confirmed by multiple sources, have been conducted with Nancy Soderberg, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a Clinton Administration foreign policy adviser. One source described her as “Bloomberg’s Condi.”
A range of topics have been discussed, from non-proliferation to the defense budget, with a specific focus on the war in Iraq.
These sessions dramatically contradict Bloomberg’s denials that he is planning to run for president. The one aspect of his possible candidacy that is considered missing is foreign policy experience. These strategy sessions with Soderberg seem clearly designed to fortify that weakness.
The Huffington Post has also learned that one of the main reasons Soderberg was chosen is that she is not currently associated with any presidential campaign.
Make of this what you will.