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IN IT TO WIN IT. The Washington Times reports that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has inched closer to a decision about running for president as an independent in 2008, putting together plans to devote one fifth of his very substantial assets to the quest. From the online teaser story:
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is prepared to spend an unprecedented $1 billion of his own $5.8 billion personal fortune for a third-party presidential campaign, Ralph Z. Hallow will report Tuesday in The Washington Times.Polls thus far have shown a third-party Bloomberg bid would draw more Republican votes than Democratic ones. A Bloomberg entry would raise the specter of an unprecedented all New Yorker race, if Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani win their primaries, as well as the effective obliteration of campaign finance laws as we know them."He has set aside $1 billion to go for it," a long-time business adviser to Mr. Bloomberg tells The Times. "The thinking about where it will come from and do we have it is over, and the answer is yes, we can do it."
The $1 billion would represent about one-fifth of Mr. Bloomberg's personal fortune....
the mayor's associates say they are fielding calls from staffers for Republican Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, which the Bloomberg adviser compared to "a biplane on fire and spiraling down."
--Garance Franke-Ruta
