The Daily Background

Along with I assume a lot of other people, this story appeared on my political radar this morning:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks his mind and that is a big part of his cachet in anything-goes New York.

But a sexual harassment lawsuit he settled in 2000 and other racy comments over the years show how his blunt style could prove a liability if he runs for president as an independent.

Before his election as mayor in 2001, Bloomberg was the target of a sexual harassment suit by a female executive who accused him of making repeated raunchy sexual comments while he was chief executive of his financial company, Bloomberg LP.

Ah, I see somebody at the Associated Press read Bloomberg’s Wikipedia entry and decided they could make an article out of it. Now, this might have been an issue when he was running to be mayor, but the guy isn’t running for president, so I really don’t understand the value of discussing it.

There seems to be a group of people in the media who are fascinated by highly-improbably self-funded independent bids for president, and they can’t stop dragging Bloomberg’s name into the context of the 2008 race. Most every serious analyst agrees: Bloomberg isn’t going to get into the race. Sure, you can look at his travel schedule and notice that he happens to be going to New Hampshire for dinner with friends, but that doesn’t mean anything (and the domain purchases his web staff mean nothing either, since they’re trying to prevent cybersquatting).

The truth of the matter is, he hasn’t made any steps towards running. He has no organization in the early states, hasn’t hired any staff, and has no fundraising mechanism (although there are those who are quick to point out that he wouldn’t need one, being, you know, a billionaire and all).

All the good Republican strategists are already hired by now, and if he were to jump into the race with nothing, he’d do so far behind everyone else. The other campaigns have been steadily building up their infrastructure, and Bloomberg has nada, other than perhaps some rich friends. He also has no real experience other than being mayor and a businessman.

Bloomberg himself has said it, dismissing those in the media who are fascinated by the prospect of his candidacy: “What chance does a five-foot-seven billionaire Jew who’s divorced really have of becoming president?”

He’s right. So can the media stop obsessing over him now and digging up long-dead items from his past that aren’t relevant to anyone since he’s not running?

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog