PRESIDENT MIKE? – AT 8:21 A.M. ET:  There is considerable speculation that three-term Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York is readying a presidential run for 2012.  He could probably finance it himself.  From the New York Post:

Sounding more like a presidential candidate than the leader of the nation's biggest city, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday fired a political salvo at Washington politicians -- of both parties -- for making "a mess of our country."

In his most strident tone yet, Bloomberg delivered what could have been confused with a campaign stump speech before the city's business leaders by blasting federal lawmakers for letting political squabbles stifle economic growth -- in contrast to what's happened in New York City...

...The mayor invoked many of the themes he had sounded while testing the presidential waters in 2007: that "common-sense solutions" trump ideology; that both major political parties "follow the mood of the moment -- instead of leading from the front"; and that the American people are getting fed up with "political pandering," "legislative influence peddling" and constant infighting...

...The mayor took an indirect swipe at the White House by saying that very little of the federal stimulus spending or the health-care reform package promoted innovation.

"And the Obama administration will have to be very careful to make sure that the financial-services bill this year doesn't hinder innovation," the mayor added.

For many in the audience, there was only one take-away: Bloomberg is running for president, seriously considering running, or trying to make it look like he's running.

COMMENT:  With his vast resources, Bloomberg can have an impact.  I doubt if he could be elected.  The main question might turn out to be:  Which other candidate, Democrat or Republican, will he hurt the most?

In 1992, the eccentric Ross Perot, running as a third-party candidate, denied George H.W. Bush a second term.  Clinton was elected, but didn't come close to 50 percent of the vote.

Bloomberg is an unexciting candidate, and often comes off as not quite in tune with actual humans – as when he said that those who opposed the mosque at Ground Zero should be ashamed of themselves.

Like Obama, Bloomberg believes he walks on water.  And he, too, sinks.

December 9, 2010