Financial Times Deutschland, Germany

Room for Another

by Sabine Muscat (Washington) and Michael Gassmann (New York)

Translated By Jacqueline Audet

January 10, 2008

Germany - Financial Times Deutschland - Original Article (German)

When it comes to suspense, the US-Electoral Campaign does not leave much to be desired. If the non-partisan New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg becomes involved, it could get hot for both parties.

He could vehemently stir up the US-Election Campaign. The New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is still denying speculations about a last-minute non-partisan candidacy, although his members of staff have been conducting voter analyses in all 50 US States for months, as was made known on Thursday. "They want to obtain a sound assessment of his chances", quoted Doug Schoen, of the AP news agency, who led the collection of the Bloomberg campaign’s voter data for the mayor’s office in New York.

Bloomberg’s candidacy could question the old rules, whereby independent candidates in a two-party system in the USA do not have a chance. Previous non-partisan candidates were unsuccessful due to a lack of financing. But money is not a problem for the New Yorker whose wealth was estimated at US$11.5 billion by “Fortune” Magazine. In addition, Bloomberg’s national popularity saves the effort that would otherwise be needed to introduce him to voters.

Furthermore, an independent candidate could appeal to the attitudes of the American population, who are sick of the trench warfare in Washington. "If we allow these polarizing politics to continue, we will remain a divided nation, and whoever is elected this fall will not have a mandate to govern", explained the host of a two-party debate at the University of Oklahoma in January, at which Bloomberg was a prominent participant. At times he himself enjoys playing the statesman. "Let us do what is right for the country", he said recently at a public appearance.

Up until now, the appeal to non-partisan cooperation was primarily used by democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. As a result, he may well have the most to fear, out of all candidates, from Bloomberg’s entry to the race. In the preliminary elections in Iowa as well as in those in New Hampshire for example, Obama has achieved much success with voters registered as without party.

Bloomberg could also stand in the way of a prominent republican presidential candidate - his predecessor in office, Rudy Giuliani. The latter paid for his abstinence from the election campaign with single digit results in Iowa and New Hampshire and is hoping for a late breakthrough in states such as Florida and California - and of course in New York.

The mayor would like to reach his decision about candidacy by the beginning of March, as stated on Thursday. That would be after Super Tuesday, on which day 23 states will be holding their preliminaries, after which it should be clear which Democrats and which Republicans have secured their nominations as presidential candidates.

In New York, Bloomberg is viewed as a decision maker, who masters day-to-day business as well as crisis situations. In the middle of his second office term, his popularity in the Metropolis is unbroken. According to a public survey conducted on Thursday at Quinnipiac University, a private university in Boston, 52 percent of New Yorkers acknowledge his potential to be a "good President". Thirty-four percent would vote for him. But almost two thirds say that he has a "moral obligation" to remain mayor until 2009.

Bloomberg already boasted his financial independence before he left the Republican Party last July. Politically, he had already detached himself from the party long before that. He does not reject same sex marriages; in New York the firearms laws are strict. Even on questions such as abortion, Bloomberg adopts a rather liberal stance.

During his first election in November 2001, the mayor still relied on support from his predecessor Giuliani, who recommended the alert enterpriser as the right person during the crisis after the World Trade Centre bombings. During the financial crises which followed, Bloomberg’s approach was one of determination.

Included in his largest defeats however, is the Olympic-candidacy gone-wrong in 2004. In addition, the mayor’s plans to levy fees for all vehicles within the downtown area have also been unsuccessful so far.

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