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Bloomberg's presidential movement gains steam

BY KARLA SCHUSTER | karla.schuster@newsday.com

8:50 PM EST, January 10, 2008

The Virginia Independent Greens pushing to get Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the presidential ballot in that state are affiliating with the national Independence Party of America, whose chairman has made no secret of his desire to see the billionaire mayor run for the White House.

The Independent Greens, who have been circulating petitions for Bloomberg since Jan. 1, the first to do so, have a history of successful petition drives. The group got 11 candidates on the 2006 ballot in Virginia, which requires more than 70,000 signatures for a ballot spot.

Their affiliation with the newly formed Independence Party of America, led by New York state chairman Frank MacKay, comes as speculation about a Bloomberg presidential bid intensifies, and is another step toward easing the mayor's way onto the ballot in all 50 states should he decide to run.

"Virginia is a difficult state to get on the ballot. It's a lot of signatures and they know how to get it done," MacKay said of the Independent Greens.

The Independence Party of America was created to put a presidential candidate on the ballot in 2008, and MacKay has said the party wants that candidate to be Bloomberg.

However, he insists that its efforts to organize nationally are separate from efforts by some of the mayor's key aides to evaluate whether Bloomberg could wage a successful, self-financed campaign for the White House.

"We look forward to being part of this team ... to ballot-access an independent presidential candidate who will move this country towards unification," Virginia Independent Greens chairman Carey Campbell said in a statement. "Of course, the candidate to do this is Mayor Bloomberg."

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser declined to comment.

For his part, Bloomberg has denied he is a candidate, but does so with enough equivocation to leave open the possibility of running. He is spending millions of dollars in extensive national polling and voter analysis to gauge whether he has a credible chance of winning the White House as a third-party candidate.

It is widely believed he will decide by March 5, the earliest day Texas allows independents to begin collecting signatures. The state has significant signature requirements to get on the ballot and gives candidates only six weeks to do so.

Also yesterday, Unity 08, the political reform movement seeking a bipartisan presidential ticket, announced in a letter to its members that it has scaled back its activities and suspended its ballot-access efforts because of lack of money and members. Two of its leaders, Doug Bailey and Jerry Rafshoon, are reportedly set to join with a committee forming to draft Bloomberg.