I would love to see this happen:
The word on the street is that the Obama campaign and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg have already met and devised an incredible plan if Clinton wins the nominee [sic]. Mayor Bloomberg would give nearly $1 billion to Obama's campaign after which Obama would bolt from the Democratic Party and run as an Independent candidate with king-maker Bloomberg as his running mate.
That would make it a walk-in for McCain. In fact, it would be deliciously ironic, because it was exactly that kind of situation (with nutty billionaire Perot) that allowed Bill Clinton to slip into the White House in the first place. If Bush had gotten all the votes that Republicans normally get, Bill wouldn't have had a chance. So the justice would be poetic if Hillary's nomination was torpedoed by an independent run that pulled a lot of the Democrat vote.
Unfortunately, I don't think it's likely. Even if Hillary does win (or steal) the nomination, much as I'd like to see it, I don't believe that Mike Bloomberg is so politically stupid as to think that he can run as a "centrist" on an Obama ticket. And "centrist" (nannyism and all) has always seemed to me what he fancies himself as. But an Obama campaign, whether Democrat or Independent, isn't going to pull centrists, particularly once his voting record gets highlighted. It would split the Democrats, not the Republicans or "independents," and it would probably not only give McCain the presidency, but possibly give the Republicans the Congress back.
If Bloomberg really does something like this, it can only be because he deludes himself that McCain is a "right winger" and that there is plenty of room to his left. As I said, I'd love to see it, but I'd have to see a lot more evidence than "the word on the street" from Armstrong Williams.
I agree that this is very unlikely. What is much more likely (and mundane) is Obama becoming Hillary's running mate if he does not get the nomination. This, of course, assumes that there is no "bad blood" if Hillary does manage to steal the nomination from Obama.
I dunno. Bloomberg seems to think that the USA is becoming a third-world country; so his delusionality rating seems pretty high. He might be just that delusion. Perot certainly was.
I don't think that's all that likely at this point, particularly because if Clinton gets the nomination it will only be because of the superdelegates. The racial and gender tension in this race — ironically a product of the divisive identity politics that the Democrats have used against the Republicans for decades — would make that very difficult to paper over.
The concept of Bloomberg, spending Bloomberg's money, on anyone but Bloomberg, is hard to swallow.
"The word on the street" doesn't know a damn thing about ballot access. End of story.
"The word on the street" doesn't know a damn thing. End of story.
Fixed.
In the end, none of this is going to matter. The democrats are committing political suicide whether or not there is a Bloomberg-Obama conspiracy afoot. The American public isn't ready for a female or an African-American to lead them boldly into the future. If you listen closely, you can hear the drool hit the floor as Mr. McCain and the rest of the republican party collectively salivate over the democratic dog fight taking place. The only democrat who stood a chance isn't running and that my friends is an inconvenient truth.
"The only democrat who stood a chance isn't running and that my friends is an inconvenient truth."
Mark Warner?
Your scenareo is about as likely as George Soros setting up a hit on Obama using a returned Iraq vet as the fall guy. Thereby sweeping Hillary into office with a huge Democratic congressional majority on the subsequent political tidal wave.
old urban professional wrote: The American public isn't ready for a female or an African-American to lead them boldly into the future. I don't think you're right. I'd vote for a Republican woman/black.
There's no chance for a Hillary/Obama or Obama/Hillary ticket. She knows damn well he'd far outshine her. And Obama knows it, too.
Obama's national-level political career is just beginning - he's not going to pull something like that that would wreck it. And why would a politician listen to Bloomberg, who is a nobody on the national scene?
Jay is right. I've been out in that August heat trying to get the signatures necessary to get a candidate on the ballot and its very difficult and very time consuming. And its not something you can do at the last minute. Filing deadlines and such require you to start that canvasing now. The Libertarian Party was on the ballot in all 50 states only three times in its entire history. I don't think the Green Party has ever done it. Many states make it impossible to do so without significant time spent in court.
So unless someone has a new ballot access standard they can immediately impose on the country prior to their attempt to run, it just ain't gonna happen at the last minute like this.