Bloomberg may enter US presidential race
Ex-New York mayor could stand as independent to challenge ‘banal’ rivals
US PRESIDENTIAL candidates were bracing themselves for a dramatic shake-up of the election yesterday after Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York, said he may run as an independent.
The shock announcement came as last night’s New Hampshire primary drew a record turnout with more than half a million of the state’s 1.3 million population thought to have voted.
Many defied snow and freezing temperatures to get to the polls at the last minute.
With only a few precincts having reported results, there were early victories for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
But the prospect of Mr Bloomberg joining the fray threatened to fundamentally alter the race.
Mr Bloomberg, 73, a media magnate who is worth $37billion (£25.5billion), said he was “looking at all the options” because he found the campaign so far to be “distressingly banal, an outrage, and an insult to the voters”.
He was understood to be particularly concerned by the rise of polarising candidates such as fellow New York-based billionaire Mr Trump, conservative Texas senator Ted Cruz, and the socialist Mr Sanders. Mr Bloomberg was a Democrat before becoming a Republican when he ran for New York mayor in 2001. He later became an independent.
A source confirmed Bloomberg had asked his team to formulate a plan for a nationwide presidential campaign. He is prepared to spend “more than” $1 billion of his own money, vastly higher than the amount Mr Trump will use.
As an independent candidate Mr Bloomberg would not have to take part in the primary elections. He would focus on the general election on Nov 8 in which he would run against the Republican and Democrat nominees. Mr Trump and Hillary Clinton are current favourites for those nominations.
Mr Bloomberg has close ties to Wall Street but he also has liberal social views, including being a high profile campaigner for gun control.
A recent poll indicated that if the election was held today he would get only about 10 per cent of the vote, but he would hope to increase that with widespread TV advertising. He will decide on whether to run by early next month.
His candidacy would primarily benefit Mr Trump if the property mogul becomes the Republican nominee, according to the poll. In a general election between Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton, the former first lady would win by 10 percentage points.
If Mr Bloomberg was also standing then Mrs Clinton would beat Mr Trump by only six percentage points.
Mr Trump said he “would love to have Michael Bloomberg run”.
Mr Sanders, who rails against the “bil- lionaire class”, said it would also benefit him by showing that America has become an “oligarchy”.
No third-party candidate has ever won a US presidential election. In 1992, Ross Perot ran as an independent and won 18.9 per cent of the vote. The result of the vote in New Hampshire, a state of 1.3 million people, is expected to provide a clearer picture of who may ultimately win the nominations.
Mr Trump led by a large margin in preelection polls. But 30 per cent of voters were still undecided the day before the election, making the result highly unpredictable.