SPEAKING OF MIKE BLOOMBERG – AT 9:52 A.M. ET:  He doesn't make many speeches, but he made some comments yesterday that sure sounded like a preliminary announcement.   From Headline News: 

Former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Thursday that the candidates leading the 2016 presidential race are capitalizing on Americans’ outrage over a political system that is “corrupt, gridlocked and broken.” Offering new insights into his thinking as he contemplates a third party bid for the White House, Bloomberg described the campaign as “a race to the extremes” with candidates who are exploiting voters who “have lost faith” in the country’s institutions. “The list of supposed villains we hear about is long,” Bloomberg, a billionaire who served three terms as mayor of New York, said at a celebration for conservative author Peggy Noonan’s new book. “But the actual solutions that Americans seek have been in short supply.”

COMMENT:   Gee, that sounds pretty presidential to me.  Personally, from a journalistic viewpoint, I hope Mike jumps in.  It would make the race that much more interesting, and he would add some sobriety. 

He is not charismatic.  He can cure anyone's insomnia.  But Bloomberg is a serious man who served three honorable terms as mayor of New York, sometimes called "the second toughest job in the nation."  (Indeed, one of his curses is that mayors of New York tend not to go higher.  Witness the great Rudy Giuliani.)  Bloomberg's oft-observed lack of charisma might well be an asset.  I think many people are yearning for less volume, more thought. 

Political speculation is that Bloomberg will only get in if polling shows he could possibly win.  He doesn't see his role as that of spoiler.  Ross Perot, an awful candidate, got 19% of the vote in 1992, running as a third-party choice.  I think Bloomberg would do much better, especially as he has endless funds with which to introduce himself to the American people.  But he would not only need at least a third of the popular vote, he would have to carry states, a much tougher proposition.

He is 74.   Realistically, this is his last chance.  I think he will most likely jump in if his polling shows very high voter dissatisfaction with the current frontrunners, which it does. 

February 19, 2016