The Reigning Mayor's Running Denial

Those anticipating a Michael Bloomberg run for the presidency are missing the point. Given his constant use of the royal "we," he seems to be campaigning for the monarchy.

"We are making a difference, and I think that will be one of the legacies of our administration, and my hope is we have enough visibility and enough success before we leave office . . . that our successes will have to go and continue," the New York mayor declared at the National Press Club this week in a high-profile visit to the capital.

Mayor Mike listed many things that have occurred "since we took over" at City Hall and "while we've been in office." Among them: "We really are beginning to turn the schools around. . . . We've really changed the paradigm. . . . We put our money where our mouth is."

But are we running for president? Here, His Majesty reverts to the first-person singular.

"I am not running for president," Bloomberg said when Edward Luce of the Financial Times put the question to him at a subsequent news conference. "I plan to finish out my job."

So, what do we make of the constant speculation?

"You're interested in promoting something that lets you write about something new and different," he said accusingly. "But that has nothing to do with me. I'm not going to run for president."

Maybe he's telling the truth. But there is circumstantial evidence to the contrary, including his recent move to quit the Republican Party -- a necessary precursor to mounting an independent presidential candidacy. Then there was his much-discussed dinner with Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a potential running mate. "I chose a restaurant that would be quiet, out of the way, where nobody would see us. It's called the Palm," Bloomberg quipped at his news conference Tuesday.

Then there was his trip to Washington this week and his speech at the press club, where he dispensed advice on poverty, tax policy, fuel efficiency, international relations, Iraq, education, trade, immigration, Social Security and civil unions. Most of all, people pay attention to Bloomberg because he has the power to buy his way into contention. Forbes magazine puts the net worth of the information-company founder at $5.5 billion, but other estimates go up to $20 billion.

His fabulous wealth made his chosen venue in Washington all the more interesting: keynoting a Brookings Institution forum on poverty. Taking the high estimates of his wealth, Bloomberg could have lifted more than 8 million people out of poverty last year, reducing the national poverty rate by 25 percent.

Even without such a gesture, Bloomberg got raves from his Brookings hosts. Senior fellow Ron Haskins said the mayor "is about to do more than any other individual in the country to actually do something about poverty." Brookings chief Strobe Talbott noted that many Americans "would like to see him run as an independent candidate for the chief executive of our country."

Listening to his speech, you could almost see that as plausible. Short like Ross Perot but without his fellow billionaire's eccentricities, Bloomberg worked the crowd deftly, with easy jokes about the last-place Washington Nationals and the voluble Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). With the accent of his native Massachusetts and the fast talk of his adopted New York, he presented himself as an antidote to the Democrat-Republican stalemate.