« Previous | Main | Next »

Bloomberg Denies Presidential Run...to Ryan Seacrest?

Share

January 01, 2008 9:28 AM

ABC News' Kate McCarthy and Ed O'Keefe Report: In a late entry, the award for best political question in the most unusual circumstance goes to . . . Ryan Seacrest!

On ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve", Republican turned Independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg told Seacrest in no uncertain terms that he will not make a bid for the Oval Office.

Seacrest, who more often finds himself in a tete-a-tete with Simon Cowell rather than the leader of Gotham, began the inquiry by commenting to Bloomberg's daughters, "I want your dad to answer this honestly.  Will you run for president?"

Without hesitation, Bloomberg responded, "No, I will not run for president, but I will speak out to try to get people to really focus on the issues and to get rid of partisanship and special interests."

Political observers -- either waiting for the ball to drop on a Central Time Zone New Year's Eve or slumbering in anticipation of Thursday's Iowa caucuses -- were quick to doubt the Mayor's assertion.

Watch ABC News' George Stephanopoulos handicap the odds of a Bloomberg run by clicking here. 

Sherman-esque as it sounds, there's always room for a independent-minded flip flop from the political world's most dangerous billionaire since Ross Perot.

The 2008 campaign's current leading multi-millionaire, former governor Mitt Romney, R-Mass., who has already invested a chunk of his estimated $250 million fortune in his own effort doesn't seem freightened by a Bloomberg bid.

"Some people are speculating that Mayor Bloomberg may get in and run for president," Romney told a crowd of supporters at a house party in Ankeny, Iowa, on Tuesday, "He's a great guy and you know, wish him well. Come on in, the water's fine."

Romney also claimed there was "a lot of truth" to the suggestion that "the two parties and about the battling between the two parties," and "how ineffective they've been at getting the job done."

Read all the latest from the campaign trail -- from Iowa to the ABC News/Facebook/WMUR debates, onto New Hampshire and beyond -- every day in The Note.

January 1, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (35)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Oh wait, maybe as VP? Hmmm - that wouldn't contradict his statement, it's a possibility.

Posted by: Neil B. | Jan 1, 2008 8:27:18 PM

Bloomberg is funny. WIll he or won't he. Does he or doesn't he?

Posted by: Robert Michaels | Jan 1, 2008 8:31:54 PM

He is an unlikable looking man, which would not help any run nationally. Shallow but true.

Posted by: a.c.guard | Jan 1, 2008 8:58:48 PM

Our first Jewish president is going to come from a third party? Unlikely. What people don't realize is that there really aren't that many independent voters out there. People really do vote with one party almost all the time. Think about your own voting history and tell me it's not true, regardless of whether you happen to call yourself an "independent." When people realize there won't be an independent president, they'll vote for a member of the two parties. See also Duverger's law.

Posted by: Clay | Jan 1, 2008 9:27:30 PM

Clay: The first Jewish President would be Hillary Clinton.
Didn't she claim to be part Jewish several years ago?
It's not such a stretch for the Clintons! Don't they and their supporters claim that Bill Clinton was the first Black President?
The Clintons are Anything you want them
to be! They might even be Part Clingon!
LOL.

Posted by: reaganfan | Jan 1, 2008 11:34:03 PM

This is like Huckabee saying that he will not attack Mitt Romney personally, but if I would, this is the ad that I would run and these are the nasty personal comments that I would make.

Slimeball, just like the Huckster.

Posted by: BigRob | Jan 2, 2008 12:07:55 AM

There is no democracy in this country..you can not say no (none of the above ) when you vote...you say yes to the system when you do not vote..there is strong documentation /sworn testimony that the last two elections were a fraud.They have us playing their game lets play ours and get together and show them who is the boss..lets build a better world together for the ones we love ..get my drift .. thanks

Posted by: Erich Kronberger | Jan 2, 2008 1:02:04 AM

I am sick and tired of people saying the last two elections were stolen. Far from it. The last two elections were not frauds. They actually showed the health of our system - both elections were close, people were involved and the every vote counted. 8 major newspaper groups did independent studies in 2001 and 2002 (Knight-Ridder, Gannet, Hearst,ect) and only one scenario found Gore to have possibly won (Gannet). Also, there were thousands of overseas military votes that were tried to be stopped by the Gore campaign (and historically more than 80% go Republican)that affected Florida, NM and Wisconsin. Bush could have asked for recounts in Wisconsin, NM and Iowa for they were that close. Gore was just a bad candidate. Remember, Gore lost both his home state of Tenn. by 100,000 votes and Clinton's state of Arkansas by 50,000. If he had won just either of the two, Florida would not have mattered. As for 2004, Kerry was another bad candidate and Bush won Florida by 400,00 0 votes. Ohio was close, but even Kerry agreed with the totals after he saw the results the following Wednesday morning. Even with the supposed problems in Cleveland, he still could not have won. If all of these votes were stolen - why has there not been ONE credible lawsuit placed? Funny, in 2006 the Dems won a number of victories and all of the sudden the system was fair again.....

Posted by: Karl | Jan 2, 2008 1:41:36 AM

hey Vince, please show us some more intelligence in your professional opinions. First off if you didn't notice Rudy is a republican and always has been. Mike Bloomberg was elected a republican twice. He joined the independent party because he is considering a run for the presidency as an independent. Neither of the two have ever been liberal or democrats. Please do us a favor and quit flogging the "liberal NE" horse. It's dust!!

Posted by: dk | Jan 2, 2008 2:44:09 AM

As the dollar continues to slide, Ron Paul's popularity will continue to rise.

He'll be that last man standing on the stage if oil goes over $150.

Dr. Paul is the only one reading the tea leaves correctly. 2008 won't be fun, but its going to be interesting.

Posted by: RP 4 Prez | Jan 2, 2008 3:16:30 AM

Nobody is going to vote for one of those RINO's or DINO's either for that matter. If Ron Paul didn't make Ross Perot appear reasonable, maybe he'd have a shot. There's no one out there with Perot's charisma or message out there. I can't see a grassroots following for a big government liberal like Bloomberg, no matter how much money he can spend.

Posted by: jojo | Jan 2, 2008 9:02:26 AM

Bloomberg? Preswident?

No thanks. I already have a mommy.

Posted by: The Lost Dog | Jan 2, 2008 12:48:08 PM

Bloomberg can best be described as faux...

Faux New Yorker

Faux Environmentalist

Faux Independent

Faux Non-sexist & the Un-bigot

Faux Everyman

Faux self-confidence of ever getting elected as a person living in sin with a religion other protestant who is against Gun Ownership....

These Quasi-aspirations displays a real faux sense of the reality on the ground...

Posted by: TPO | Jan 4, 2008 2:37:47 PM

If he decides to run now, he's a liar and no one will trust him.

I'll be voting for Ron Paul.

Posted by: mamie | Jan 10, 2008 2:40:29 AM

Bloomberg is far more qualified and much more of a unifier than any other now in the hunt. But can he win? I don't think so.

Posted by: David | Jan 10, 2008 12:41:05 PM

Post a comment