A PREZ ‘LOOK’
Mike studies $1B attempt
FORMER MAYOR Michael Bloomberg, two years after leaving City Hall, is pondering a move on the White House.
The billionaire New Yorker, appalled by the rise of GOP front-runner Donald Trump and the uncertainty of the Democratic presidential race, could mount a third-party candidacy, sources told the Daily News. The former three-term mayor ordered advisers to assemble plans for an independent run funded with $1 billion of his own cash.
Sources familiar with Bloomberg’s thinking say he believes the Republicans are tracking too far to the right, and the Democrats too far to the left.
Bloomberg would mount a massive television campaign emphasizing his career as a successful, self-made businessman and the leader of a bipartisan administration in New York.
The 73-year-old Bloomberg set an early March deadline for a decision on the race — the cutoff for getting his name on the November ballot in all 50 states.
Bloomberg’s plans were first reported Saturday in The New York Times.
Bloomberg has considered and rejected a White House race in the past after determining his chances of winning were zero. But the bizarre confluence of events in the current presidential campaign convinced him things could be different in 2016.
Trump, the blustery billionaire with no previous political experience, remains the leader for the Republican nod with the first primaries coming in February. And Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, once considered a liberal long shot, is proving a formidable challenge to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side.
The sources said Bloomberg has already commissioned one poll to determine his fate against both Trump and Clinton — with another sampling slated after the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary.
A Clinton nomination would not preclude the ex-mayor from making his move, according to sources.
But a longtime Clinton backer wasn’t worried. “It’s great political gossip on a snowy day, but that’s about it,” the Clinton booster said. “She may lose Iowa; New Hampshire is unpredictable — but she’s well-positioned nationally.”
The source said Bloomberg would need to spend “well over a $1 billion, probably $2 billion” because of his late entry into the race.
Bloomberg, asked in December if he had any dreams of Washington, gave The News a one-word answer: “No.”