During yesterday's Republican presidential debate, John McCain's praise for Michael Bloomberg is being cited as an indication of their possible pairing for an independent ticket.
The New York Sun has really stepped up its campaign to enlist Bloomberg to run for the White House as an independent.
Now, John McCain is added to this fantasy.
JOHNSTON, Iowa -- Senator McCain is cozying up to Mayor Bloomberg at the expense of Mayor Giuliani as the Republican presidential primaries draw near, using a question at yesterday's debate here to tout the current administration's efforts to reform an educational system that he said had been "clearly broken."
...As speculation persists about Mr. Bloomberg's own presidential ambitions, the high praise from Mr. McCain could start talk of a possible partnership if Mr. McCain's bid for the Republican nomination fails. Mr. McCain has returned to his maverick roots in trying to come back from his campaign's near collapse over the summer, and he now highlights rather than hides the many times he has broken ranks with his party. Mr. Bloomberg displayed a similar streak before he took the more dramatic step of leaving the Republican Party and becoming an independent earlier this year.
The Sun is fueling the speculation about Bloomberg's presidential ambitions.
I can't imagine McCain being willing to run in the #2 spot on the ticket.
The Sun's push for a Bloomberg-McCain ticket spills on to its editorial page.
The most newsworthy moment in yesterday's Republican presidential debate in Iowa came when Senator McCain was asked about education. Mr. McCain replied by saying, "In New York City today there are remarkable things happening under Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein." It may have been a subtle dig at Mr. Bloomberg's predecessor, Mayor Giuliani, Mr. McCain's rival for the Republican nomination. But it was also a case of Mr. McCain praising, in Mr. Bloomberg, a man who is considering a presidential bid of his own.
...It raises some possibilities. If Mr. McCain does not win the Republican nomination, perhaps he could fetch up as a vice presidential candidate on Mr. Bloomberg 's independent ticket. Mr. Bloomberg could certainly use the sound bite in television commercials in states where Mr. McCain has a strong following. Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bloomberg, has an independent streak. As a vice presidential pick, he could add foreign-policy heft, Washington experience, military credibility, and a compelling personal story to a Bloomberg ticket. He would also bring regional balance and a Middle-American wholesomeness.
We've long said that our favorite Bloomberg running mate would be Senator Lieberman, another centrist who has experience as a vice presidential candidate. But the praise from Mr. McCain is only the latest indication of the potential that a Bloomberg presidential candidacy would have to draw support from a wide range of the political spectrum and from surprising points on it. Mr. Bloomberg, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent, and Mr. Klein, a Clinton administration Justice Department official, are being praised by Mr. McCain, a Republican Senator from Arizona. Mr. McCain has been a constructive voice in Washington in support of the American surge in Iraq and in support of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. What a combination.
My thoughts exactly -- What a combination!
Good grief.
The editorial concludes:
We've not endorsed a candidate in either the Republican primary or the general election, but we have been nursing the idea of a Bloomberg run longer and more ardently than the other newspapers for a reason — the kind of reason Mr. McCain recognized by tipping his hat to Messrs. Bloomberg and Klein, the latter, by the way, being a liberal who can work with Republicans. It's been said that the presidential nominations will be decided earlier than ever. But the insertion of Mr. Bloomberg into the Republican debate is an indicator that the race may take shape later than anyone expects. Even if Mr. McCain eventually backs the Republican nominee, Mr. Bloomberg, if he is to mount an independent campaign, will need to draw support from voters who feel positively about the senator who, when the dropped out youths of the 1960s were celebrating at the Woodstock festival for which Mrs. Clinton wants to earmark a museum, was, as he put it so famously, tied up.
Now, this Bloomberg Fever is coming from a New York publication.
And New Yorkers can forget that the U.S. is a big, big country. There's no national groundswell for Bloomberg to exercise his independence.
The Sun's editorial board may be drooling over a Bloomberg-McCain ticket, but I'm not.
There's no way I'd vote for the very slippery, v ery lib Bloomberg.
I bet the greatest opposition to a Bloomberg independential run with McCain as his running mate would come from presidential wannabe McCain.
No comments:
Post a Comment