New York Mayor Michael Bloom berg’s potential independent bid for president depends largely on whether the major-party candidates embrace the political center, said Democrats and Republicans who met with the mayor on Monday.
The bipartisan gathering attracted former senators and governors and a current lawmaker. But the main draw at the University of Oklahoma was Bloomberg, the multibillionaire who changed his party affiliation last summer from Republican to independent.
Although he denies he’s a candidate, Bloomberg has the wealth to launch a third-party bid, and talk of a candidacy has grown louder.
“People have stopped working together. Government is dysfunctional. There’s no collaborating and congeniality,” Bloomberg said to applause.
Participants who spent time alone with Bloomberg said he appeared genuinely curious about running but remained far from committed.
“I don’t really think the mayor wants to run. Does that mean the mayor would never run if he still views the system as failing?” said former Sen. David Boren, D-Okla., one of the meeting’s organizers. “I think he’s a good American, and I don’t think he would close the door on it if he thought it was his duty.”
The other leader of the summit, former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., said the chances of a third-party bid have been dramatically altered by Democrat Barack Obama’s victory in Iowa and his embrace of bipartisan unity, combined with other candidates’ moves toward the center.
“It’s changed the calculation anybody would make in terms of whether they were going to run,” Nunn said.
The group drafted a joint statement about the urgency of drawing the parties to work together on issues such as health care, climate change, homeland security and the economy.
The forum included former Republican Sen. Bill Brock of Tennessee, former Defense Secretary William Cohen, former Democratic Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, former Republican Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, former Democratic Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado, and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.
Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, who attended the forum and has been widely mentioned as a running mate for Bloomberg, indicated that his GOP credentials may not be permanent.
“As of right now, I’m a Republican,” he said, “and then we’ll see what the world looks like.”
