The Billion Dollar President

Vowing to spend $1 billion of his personal fortune, New York Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, may be entering the 2008 presidential race.

Third-party candidates have affected the outcome of several major past presidential races, Ralph Nader and H. Ross Perot, for example.

With a $1 billion dollar budget he may not become president but he would definitely influence the outcome of the election. Historically third party candidates have hurt the Republicans while helping the Democrats get into office. Both parties' leaders are viewing Bloomberg's potential bid as a serious threat in November 2007.

With that kind of money many of the obstacles to a third party candidacy will be overcome. He can hire a mass of people in many states armed with petitions to put his name on the ballots. He would not have to spend time raising money enabling him to focus on issues. Not having the strict party guidelines to follow, an independent contender could tell the public what it wants to hear, not parroting what the Republicans and Democrats stand for.

Possibly the person that stands to lose the most if Michael Bloomberg decides to run on the independent ticket is Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani is riding high on the coattails of the 9/11 tragedy. He is a frontrunner on the Republican ticket but is his platform strong enough to withstand all scrutiny? Or is his popularity more a matter of being in the right place at the right time?

Bloomberg is no stranger to controversey. In 2001 Bloomberg, a life-long Democrat, decided to run on the Republican ticket and won the race for mayor of New York City.

Viewed as a liberal or moderate Republican he was re-elected in 2005, by a 20% margin, the widest margin ever for a Republican mayor in that city.

He spent $73 million dollars of his personal assets to win that office. Outspending his closest opponent 5-1. He declined a mayoral salary instead receiving a stipend of $1.00 per year.

Bloomberg's campaign could be enhanced with the help of another liberal minded Republican, Senator Chuck Hagel, a popular senator from the state of Nebraska. Hagel has hinted at the possiblity of a independent run for the white house with Bloomberg.

The possibility of an independent presidential candidate in the 2008 election is almost inevitable. How much influence it will have almost certainly depends on who is choosen on both the Democrat and Republican tickets.

If the Democrats nominate the far left with opposition to the Iraq war and liberal illegal immigration policies. While the Republican's could go to the far right with strict immigration enforcement and liberal policy towards staying the course and spending for the Iraqi war. It is possible that any independent party could sneak up the middle of the two main parties.

While the Bloomberg/Hagel camps haven't committed to the race for the White House in 2008, neither have the denied it. If both main parties don't stop arguing amongst themselves and unify each parties platforms on all the issues facing the United States the real threat could come from the independents.

The American people have become savvy about their elected officials. No longer willing to just vote straight ticket. The people are expecting results and not just continued bickering. The call for resolution to conflicts and problems not just the continued partisian/bipartisian excuses.