New reason to wonder about a Bloomberg run

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has tossed another crumb to those hungering to see him run for president.

Bloomberg has fueled the speculation by scheduling a meeting next week with 16 prominent Democrats and Republicans who will urge their parties to detail plans for "forming a 'government of national unity' to end the gridlock in Washington."

Should this appeal to the top presidential candidates fail, some organizers of the Jan. 7 conference at the University of Oklahoma said they would look to back an independent in the 2008 race.

"Some of us might well be open to encouraging an independent candidacy if the two parties don't meet their responsibilities," said the meeting's host, former senator and Oklahoma University President David Boren. Among potential candidates, Bloomberg "would be one person who should be seriously considered," he added.

Whatever the group ultimately recommends, the event's high-profile guest list suggests the advice won't go unheard. Invitees include leading Republicans such as former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former Sen. John Danforth (Mo.) and former national party chairman Bill Brock. Among the Democrats attending are former senators Sam Nunn (Ga.), Bob Graham (Fla.), Charles Robb (Va.) and onetime presidential candidate Gary Hart.

Some observers said the very prominence of the attendees strengthens the chances of there being a third-party ticket in the presidential race.

"Nobody's saying it yet, but clearly that's what they're looking at," said Doug Muzzio, professor of public affairs at Baruch College. "These people are for real and could staff the upper echelons of a presidential administration ... We're not talking about a fringe here."

Boren insisted the group's principal aim was to demand presidential candidates spell out plans to address issues such as terrorism, budget deficits and America's tarnished image abroad.

"This is not a Bloomberg-for-president meeting," he said. "My own personal choice would be to see the two parties rise to the occasion."

Whitman said she aims only to send candidates a message that "compromise is not a dirty word, the public expects to see people working together from the various parties."

As for Bloomberg, she said, "It's not about him, it's not about putting him in the spotlight, but he is the kind of the politician who reaches across the aisle."

Speculation about a Bloomberg presidential bid has swirled this year as the mayor undertook a peripatetic travel schedule, speaking out on issues such as pollution, energy policy and gun control.

The self-made billionaire who, under term limits, will leave office in 2009, has said repeatedly he will not enter the presidential race - a position his office stuck to yesterday.

"He is going to the event in Oklahoma because he has seen again and again as mayor how hyper-partisanship in Washington isn't just getting in the way of big reforms - it's getting in the way of any meaningful progress on a whole host of issues," said Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser. "The mayor is looking forward to the opportunity to sit down with like-minded leaders to try and find solutions."

Whatever the mayor's next political move, he still has a little time to decide. The state with the earliest presidential ballot deadline, Texas, wouldn't need to receive his petitions until May.

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