By Sara Kugler Frazier
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- Every couple of days, Mayor Michael Bloomberg firmly denies any plans to run for president, putting the idea to rest until a new rumor suddenly pops up. If that sounds familiar, it's no accident.
The script from the leadup years to the 2008 race has been dusted off for a revival performance, complete with out-of-state trips designed to make headlines and unnamed confidantes whispering about possible running mates.
Four years ago, Bloomberg's two-year exploration of a possible third-party bid was a brilliantly executed plan that had no downside.
If he decided to pull the trigger and run, the groundwork was laid. If he abandoned the idea, as he did in February of 2008, the dog-and-pony show made Bloomberg a national, relevant figure in the later years of what was thought to be his last term.
Political analysts say it's doubtful this renewed effort will lead to an actual presidential bid, given the difficulty for a third-party candidate to get on the ballot in all 50 states, not to mention win enough votes.
The main objective is to keep the 68-year-old billionaire mayor on the main stage, giving him exposure and the bully pulpit he enjoys to promote himself and his agenda.
"It is deja vu all over again," said Doug Muzzio, a public affairs professor at Baruch College. "It's the same script -- they think it worked the last time, and they are confident that it's the best way to keep marketing the Bloomberg brand right now."
Aides to Bloomberg, who could finance a campaign with his estimated $18 billion fortune, say he is not running.
So far this year, as he did in 2006, the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent has ramped up his travel out of state, including to places rich in electoral votes, such as California and Florida, no doubt enjoying the questions he has fielded along the way about possibly running for the White House.
He has appeared with the president, to appear presidential. He also did that in 2006 -- back then, Bloomberg greeted Republican President George W. Bush when he landed at Kennedy Airport. This year, carefully burnishing his bipartisan credentials, he played golf with Democratic President Barack Obama.
In 2007, he traveled to California for a meeting at Google and a question-and-answer session at which the subject of a presidential bid happened to come up. This fall, he went to Facebook headquarters in California for a live video chat and a similar query about his future plans.
Last time around, he and his girlfriend took a private trip to New Hampshire, the early primary state, where she attended college at Dartmouth College. The trip was announced publicly, despite the mayor's strict policy of never discussing his personal travel.
This July, he went to New Hampshire again, to give a lecture at Dartmouth.
Being in New Hampshire holds no actual political benefit to Bloomberg, an independent who would not be on the ballot in the state's first-in-the-nation primaries. But he still gets noticed when he goes there.
The Bloomberg plan would also be incomplete without at least some talk of possible running mates. For the 2008 race, the roster ranged from Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel to Lance Armstrong.
The first name drop this year was cable television host and former Rep. Joe Scarborough of Florida. When asked about that rumor this week, Bloomberg could not contain his amusement.
"I don't know whether he's running. I can tell you I'm not running," Bloomberg told reporters. "It's very flattering, all kidding aside, that everybody suggests this, but I'm not running for president, guys."
It also helps Bloomberg to be featured in a few slick national magazine profiles. Four years ago, it was Newsweek and Time. Early next year, look for an Esquire piece.
One major part of Bloomberg's playbook from the runup to 2008 was to sprinkle in a few teasing tidbits amid his regular denials of any interest in running.
"You don't want to sit around and say, 'I could have and I should have,'" he said in November 2006. "I'm a big believer in trying things if you want to do it, and if it doesn't work out, at least you'll know. You won't have that second-guessing thing that would nag you for the rest of your life."
He has also begun to do it this year.
"I think actually a third-party candidate could run the government easier than a partisan political president," Bloomberg said this month, "because the partisan political president -- yeah, he's got half the votes, but he can't get the others -- whereas the guy in the middle may very well be able to get enough across the aisle."
During that same appearance, a forum with -- ahem -- Scarborough, Bloomberg also issued one of the softest denials he has given this year when asked about his own presidential aspirations.
He said he had asked the New York City voters who elected him in 2009 for another four years, adding that he is "sort of inclined" to fulfill that promise.
Rewind back to 2006, when he tossed out a smudgy denial among the categorical no-ways. Asked at a Connecticut fundraiser whether he was contemplating a presidential run, Bloomberg said, "absolutely not."
He added, "And anybody who's running will say exactly that."
Published: Thu, Nov 25, 2010
