Juicy New Rumor

[Herb Schaffler]

According to Human Events online, Bloomberg has contacted Obama and has worked out a deal that if Hillary steals the nomination, he will donate 1 billion dollars to Obama to run as an independent with himself as Obama's running mate. That would be a hoot.

[drig23]

Bloomberg's said in the past that 2 things would need to happen to make him run as an independent:
1) Hillary Wins
2) McCain loses

McCain is most likely going to win the Republican primaries, so it's looking poor for a Bloomberg run. Is just one of the two enough? What if McCain is likely to lose in November? Polls show him doing okay against Hillary, but there's a lot of time, and a long, bruising campaign ahead. Plus, Bloomberg's been doing a lot of his own analysis, which might not agree with the established polls. If he's convinced Hillary would win in November, Bloomberg would try to act now to prevent that.

If Bloomberg were to throw $1B into a spoiler 3rd party, it could hand the election to McCain, without Bloomberg having to vote Republican. Remember that he's a New York politician, and is likely to try for the Governor's seat. I think, all in all, it's not out of the picture.

Of course, he doesn't actually have to do this. If he simply announced that, if Hillary wins the primaries, he would run as an independent, the Democratic elite (the PLEOs and Superdelegates) would be tempted to join Obama, just to prevent Bloomberg's run.

That being said, would Obama join him? I seriously doubt it. Obama knows he'll be able to make another run in 8 years. If he runs as an independent, and loses, that's out of the picture.

If Bloomberg goes with Chuck Hagel, he's a spoiler for the Republicans, and he'd hand the election to Hillary. So, I'm thinking that's pretty unlikely.

Or, he could start a 527 to campaign in the remaining primaries for Obama. His endorsement would mean more than the endorsements of Kerry, the Kennedys, and John Edwards combined. A Bloomberg endorsement, with the Bloomberg machine behind it, would essential hand the primary to Obama. We'd end up with a candidate that's very strong against McCain, and doesn't piss off 60% of the populace (yours truly included). It would mean handing the general election to Obama. I think Bloomberg would see that as a good thing.

So, my bet is against an independent run. My bet is that, a few days before Ohio and Texas, Bloomberg will endorse Obama. Which would lead me to ask:

Can Obama afford to run the most expensive campaign in history?
Yes, he can.

-Dave

[Herb Schaffler]

Does Bloomberg not like Hillary and if not, why?

[nohil-billy]

Can anybody legally give that much money to another persons campaign?

[drig23]

Originally Posted by Herb Schaffler

Does Bloomberg not like Hillary and if not, why?

I know he doesn't like her from reading it online, but I don't know his particular issues. I imagine he has many of the same complaints that those on this board do.

Originally Posted by nohil-billy

Can anybody legally give that much money to another persons campaign?

Yes and no. He can't dump $1B into Obama's coffers. But, he can form a 527, like MoveOn or the Swift Boaters, and do "independent" campaigning. There are all sorts of restrictions, but, with enough lawyers, a 527 can really affect a campaign. Would GWBush have won in 2004 without the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Would the Dems have taken congress in 2006 without MoveOn?

If you have a problem with this system, I advice in November you vote against the co-author of the new campaign finance reform bill. It comes from the McCain-Feingold bill :)

-Dave

P.S. Yes, I only said you should vote against is because it means a vote for Obama.
P.P.S. I think I referred to 527s as 529s. 529s are college saving funds. Whoops. Please don't start campaigning against 529s. I want my kids to go to college

[nohil-billy]

With your liberal leanings, your kids are sure to go to college.

Unless of course it's true what John McCain said about them.

[PeroW-Cheney]

I'm glad I heard Rush say something about this rumor. He says that could kill the Democrat Party. Good. It is way overdue for a new 2nd party to emerge.

[pinenut]

Originally Posted by nohil-billy

Can anybody legally give that much money to another persons campaign?

Haven't you heard Mitt Romney had spent tens of million dollars of his for his campaign before he quit?

[nohil-billy]

Romney gave to his own campaign which is perfectly legal. There is a limit on outside contributions.

[drig23]

By now, everyone's probably read the NY Times Op-Ed by Bloomerg, "I'm not Running for President, but..."

One thing you can say about Bloomberg is that he's got a good organization for doing research. And the research showed he'd lose. To tell you the truth, I'm happy. I would have voted for Obama and felt really terrible about not voting for the fellow Jew.

-Dave