Bloomberg pays record bid for Oval Office
By Bill Press
NEW YORK CITY, June 21 – A new landmark was reached for New York auction houses today as Sotheby's reported a record bid of $500 million for the Oval Office. According to anonymous sources, the winning White House bid was placed by New York political office collector Michael Bloomberg, who also held the previous record of $155 million paid for the New York mayoral office. "I could never capture the Oval Office the old-fashioned way," Bloomberg told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "so why not buy it?
By Bill Press
NEW YORK CITY, June 21 – A new landmark was reached for New York auction houses today as Sotheby's reported a record bid of $500 million for the Oval Office. According to anonymous sources, the winning White House bid was placed by New York political office collector Michael Bloomberg, who also held the previous record of $155 million paid for the New York mayoral office. "I could never capture the Oval Office the old-fashioned way," Bloomberg told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "so why not buy it?
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's announcement that he has changed his registration from Republican Party to independent has shaken up the 2008 political landscape, and rightly so.
Everybody remembers that Ross Perot, running for president as an independent candidate in 1992, received 19 percent of the vote. And he was certifiably insane. Bloomberg is better known, has even more money, and is only mildly insane.
Make no mistake: Bloomberg does, indeed, plan to run. Of course, like any candidate not yet ready to announce, he denies he's running for president … sort of. "My intention is to be mayor for the next 925 days and 10 or 11 hours," he assured reporters. Note the key words: "my intention." Then he quickly added: "The more people that run for office, the better." Hey, you could drive a campaign bus through that loophole.
Besides, if he's not at least thinking of running as an independent, why did he bother changing his party registration? As much as we'd like to believe Occam's Razor — the simpler solution, the better — applies here, it's unlikely Bloomberg left the Republican Party simply because he was embarrassed at being a Republican. After all, he changed parties once before, switching from Democrat to Republican, in order to run for mayor of New York. It seems pretty clear Bloomberg's future election plans are behind this switch, too.
If there's still any doubt, the New York Times reports that Bloomberg's party-change operation comes only after he and his staff spent the last two years planning and preparing for an independent race: researching rules for getting on the ballot in each of the 50 states, meeting with political consultants, and studying the 1992 independent campaign of Ross Perot. Bloomberg may not take the next step, but this is definitely his first step down the path to running for president.
One thing for sure: Unlike every other candidate, Bloomberg won't have to spend a lot of time on the phone begging for money. He's told friends he'd be willing to spend $500 million of his own cash. For a man worth $5 billion, that may be no big deal, but it'll be enough to get him on the ballot in all 50 states and generate a highly visible and very competitive campaign — which puts the fear of God in both Democrats and Republicans.
It's unlikely an independent candidate could win the White House. Yet, with public trust of politicians at an all-time low, this could be the ideal time for a Bloomberg candidacy. By offering the attractive, albeit naive, option of governing from the middle, he would siphon votes from both major parties. Yet it's the Democrats who have the most to lose.
At this moment — with the war in Iraq, the immigration mess, and George Bush's poll numbers in the toilet — Democrats have an excellent shot at winning everything in 2008. Things are so bad for Republicans, how could Democrats possibly lose? Here's how: Put Michael Bloomberg on the ballot — with, let's say, Chuck Hagel as his running mate — and all bets are off.
Bloomberg, in fact, could wreak so much havoc for Democrats, you have to wonder … We know how much money Michael Bloomberg's willing to spend to become president. But how much is Karl Rove paying him to run?
Whether he ends up running or not, Bloomberg now has the easy road. The first deadline for filing petitions as an independent is not until May 2008, in Texas. So, while all eight Democrats and 11 Republicans run around the country, Bloomberg has nothing to do but sit and watch, waiting for the best time to jump in — and working on his campaign slogan.
For now, with a woman and an African-American leading the pack, the best Bloomberg can come up with may be: "Why not a 5-foot-7 Jewish billionaire?"
Bill Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a new book, "How the Republicans Stole Religion." His email address is: bill@billpress.com. His Web site is: www.billpress.com.
© 2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
