Posted on 10/27/2008 7:10:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Mayor Bloomberg might finally be ready to come home to the Democratic Party.
Bloomberg aides have indicated the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent mayor would likely run on a third party line of his own creation in 2009 if the term limits extension he pushed through the City Council last week holds up in court.
Because the independent line would be at the bottom of the ballot and difficult for voters to find - much less pull the lever on in the Democratic-dominated city - the mayor's brain trust has not ruled out trying to run him on the Democratic line.
"If there is a path to get Mike Bloomberg on Row A, the campaign would be foolish not to consider trying," a consultant close to the mayor said.
Would the city's Democratic leaders let him try? Convincing them won't be easy.
As a man without a party, Bloomberg needs a permission slip known as a Wilson-Pakula from three of the five Democratic county leaders just to qualify for the right to fight for their line in a primary against bona fide registered Democrats.
Then again, none of the county leaders spoke up in opposition to his term limits extension plan. In fact, two of them - Rep. Joseph Crowley of Queens and Assemblyman Vito Lopez of Brooklyn - supported the effort.
The Democratic Party is weakest on Staten Island and poses the easiest pickup. And the once-powerful Bronx Democrats are in disarray due to a contentious leadership battle.
The Manhattan Democratic chairman, Assemblyman Herman (Denny) Farrell, confirmed he won't seek reelection to the leadership post next September. One possible contender, Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat, was endorsed by Bloomberg in the September primary.
Three Democrats - Rep. Anthony Weiner, city Controller William Thompson and Queens City Councilman Tony Avella - say they're running for mayor regardless of whether Bloomberg and his billions are in the race. As registered Democrats, they need only collect 7,500 valid signatures to qualify for the primary ballot.
It would be nearly impossible for Democratic leaders to let Bloomberg compete for their line if Thompson remains in the race, said one county chairman. They can't help Bloomberg if it would hurt the man seeking to be New York's second black mayor.
The best-case scenario for Bloomberg, the chairman said, is if Avella, a long-shot candidate, is the only Democrat left standing.
"If we have a viable Democrat in the running, he'll probably get the endorsement," the chairman said. "If the only person running is Avella, maybe we do throw ourselves in front of the train."
Some Democrats crossed party lines to endorse Bloomberg for reelection in 2005. The calculus this time is different. The mayor angered many by changing term limits and scrambling the 2009 campaign plans of several ambitious elected officials.
Then Bloomberg will be a shoe in. You can put Hitler, Pol Pot, Osama Bin Laden and Stalin on the Democratic ticket and they would win as well.
He should just produce a separate ballot with only his name on it. Why not ? He seems to work the system in his favor on all other fronts doesn’t he ?
But Bloomberg makes the subways run on time.
Goodness gracious. Bloomingidiot running as a rodent ?
DEFEAT BLOOMBERG IN 2009 !
Oh, I know. He didn’t want to wade through the zoo that is known as a NYC rodent primary and kiss the rings of all the various fiefdom bosses. Flash forward 8 years and now he’s making them kiss his. I hope we can recruit another billionaire and take this megalomanical midget nanny-stater THUG out.
The city deserves what it gets.
I wish Rudy would run against Schumer though. At least that would allow NY to give something useful back to the country.
Unfortunately any challenger in the primary wouldn’t have a chance, and any general election opponent would be a Rudy-type “republican”.
You know what...now that the term limits are off, Rudy should come back and put a knife in Bloomberg.
That would be sweet...I’d move my registration back down to the city to vote in that one... :D
At this point, I’m expecting Rudy to run for Governor in 2010, although running for Mayor would be nice (because, despite our misgivings about aspects of his record, he still was probably the best Mayor the city has ever had, at least in the modern era).
That would be classic! :-)
Bloomberg=Little Napoleon
You know what...now that the term limits are off, Rudy should come back and put a knife in Bloomberg.
That would be SO sweet!
YEah, I expect him to run for Gov too. But I can dream about him taking out Schumer.
I just want to see Schumer’s face when he has to give a concession speech.
Dammit...I don’t care who the Gov of NY is. I’m moving away!
Rudy, for Senate!!!!
I so want the people of New York to have Rudy as their Governor.
getting the term limits changed for mayor also got it changed for the council. They are now incumbents, and they like that. Look for Bloomberg to run as a RAT, as the RATS throw Thompson some other bone ( read that as throwing Thompson under the bus )
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