More noise around Bloomberg

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Do you feel a draft? It might be coming from the Draft Bloomberg Committee, a bipartisan effort aimed at drawing the ex-Democratic ex-Republican and sitting NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) into the 2008 presidential contest. Bloomberg himself added to the din, joining a pair of centrist governors — one from each party (is there a theme here?) — in an attack on SOP in Washington.


The Draft Bloomberg Committee was formed by Doug Bailey, a former GOP consultant, and Gerald Rafshoon, a Democrat who worked in the White House under Jimmy Carter. They are mounting a 50-state signature drive in an effort to spur Bloomberg’s entry into the race as an independent, third-party candidate. It’s targeting independent voters, along with those affiliated with both parties who are not satisfied with the current crop of candidates.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg joined Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and Ed Rendell (D-PA) in criticizing the Washington establishment for focusing on pork and re-election while the nation’s infrastructure rots due to neglect.

"We can all look at recent headlines about levees in New Orleans, air traffic congestion in the Northeast or the bridge collapse in Minnesota to realize that our nation’s infrastructure is in need of serious attention," said Bloomberg. "But those examples only scratch the surface of the problem. The funding needs to maintain our existing infrastructure, and to improve and expand infrastructure as our nation continues to grow, just hasn’t been the priority it needs to be. Today, I’m joining with Gov. Rendell and Gov. Schwarzenegger to create a coalition that will focus attention on our national infrastructure shortcomings in a non-partisan way and will work to ensure the federal government makes this a top priority."

Schwarzenegger pegged the necessary funding for the infrastructure restoration project at 1.6 Trillion dollars.

RBR/TVBR observation: So noise is being made on behalf of Bloomberg, even while Bloomberg makes noise on his on. This is against a backdrop of quiet polling being run by Bloomberg to test the waters. The possibility of a huge infusion of cash in what figures to be a record political advertising year anyway gets ever closer to reality.