Bloomberg '08?

There has been much speculation on whether Mike Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, would run for president as an third-party independent in 2008.

He's a billionaire that could potentially fund his own national campaign (as he did when he ran for mayor), and has been traveling widely giving speaking out about national and domestic problems that face the nation.

When I first heard that he might run, I quickly dismissed it and thought it was just the brainchild of the media (and wouldn't they love it).

But now, I think that it's a real possibility.

Yesterday, Bloomberg and twelve other leading centrist Democrats and Republicans scheduled a meeting at the University of Oklahoma for January 7.

Their goal is to discuss the possibility of selecting a candidate that will unify America and end the damaging partisanship in Washington. They will only do this if they do not believe that the Democratic and Republican nominees seek to accomplish this.

Essentially, its a bi-partisan coalition to end partisanship. Go figure.

Now the question on political pundits's minds is "Which side will this hurt--the Democrats or the Republicans?"

I think that his candidacy would hurt the Democrats much more than the Republicans.

Even though he has changed his party alliances, he is essentially a northeastern liberal figure. I am still a little fuzzy on his positions on the big issues, but I do know that he's been speaking widely about issues like stopping global warming and achieving universal health care for all Americans.

That sounds like a liberal to me. The Republicans would definitely benefit if he runs.

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska has said that he would consider going on the Bloomberg ticket should he decide to run.

A third party candidate has never carried a state in the general election let alone come close to winning. Bloomberg, should he decide to run, just might be a contender with the help of independents across the nation. He could make more than a splash come November.