According to this major New York Times story, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg is seriously thinking about running for president as an independent. The story says that Donald Trump has already said that he would welcome Bloomberg into the race, if Trump himself were the Republican. Trump is said to think that Bloomberg’s entry into the race would injure the Democratic nominee. Others quoted in the story believe Bloomberg would injure the Republican nominee.
Here is another story in Slate, although it is shorter and doesn’t add any detail. Also see this from TIME magazine.
Bloomberg, Sanders, Trump would be the worst three way election ever, holy crap.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a three-way race everywhere . . . maybe even people outside this excellent Website’s audience would notice that? :}
Because of his stand on the issues (from the left) he’d take more votes from the Democrats.
Don’t forget Jim Webb. I was in Leesburg, VA the other day and saw one of his bumper stickers, but not sure if he has anything going outside of his home state. https://www.webb2016.com/
Trent, pls explain why it “would be the worst three way election ever”?
I think Webb and Bloomberg are going to be surprised at just how difficult it is to get ballot access in a majority of states while not running as a Democrat or a Republican. Webb probably won’t be able to do it, while Bloomberg probably could, especially if Sanders and Trump are the Dem/Repub nominees as he would likely start receiving huge support from the monied political Establishment.
Also, this certainly wouldn’t bode well for Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, and the Green and Libertarian Parties; they’d never get any news media coverage at all if Bloomberg and Webb ran, which would especially be a shame for Jill seeing as the hard work she’s been putting into campaigning has been starting to pay off recently with increased donations and media coverage compared to 2012.
If Bloomberg actually ran, he would only take votes from the Left or Left-of-Center; his position on Gun Rights (he’s opposed to such) and the Second Amendment would automatically turn off any conservative or Libertarian-oriented voter.
He better get busy if he wants to get on the ballot in all 50 states. I think the first ones close off May 1st. Maybe someone here can post the deadline dates for the 50 states for the General election
Bob G., you are right that the first deadline is Texas, May 16 for a new party or May 9 for an independent. But there is a good chance that the Texas deadline is unconstitutional. Six states have had June deadlines declared unconstitutionally early. That is why the vast majority of deadlines for an independent presidential candidate are in July, August, and September. The US Supreme Court has ruled against early deadlines 3 times. Once in Anderson v Celebrezze, once in Lendall v Jernigan, once in Salera v Tucker.
Nader’s accomplishment of getting on ballots in 45 states in 2008 looks pretty impressive.