BLOOMBERG'S CANDIDACY: Following up on Garance's post from yesterday regarding New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg's staunch support of gun control and the unpopularity it has earned him south of the Mason-Dixon line, there's an important caveat worth raising. Though Bloomberg is a Republican, all the speculation on his potential presidential campaign has him running as an independent, possibly on the Unity '08 ticket (as Garance suggests in her post title and the link she includes). So while the analogy to Rudy Giuliani (two Republican New York mayors with liberal records on gun control and social issues) holds up on policy it doesn't on politics. Bloomberg doesn't need to win Republican primaries to run. If he runs, it will be as a self-financed late entrant, like Ross Perot.
What Garance's post demonstrates, however, is how damaging Bloomberg would be to the Democratic nominee. Someone with his personal and political profile will have no appeal in red states. His sole effect will be to put blue states in play and potentially throw the election to the Republican.
--Ben Adler
