[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Bloomberg Meets With Perot Manager, Ballot Expert New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg met Friday with the ballot access expert and campaign manager for H. Ross Perot's third-party presidential bid, a sign of the multibillionaire's seriousness about a possible independent run. Bloomberg met privately with Clay Mulford, who is well-versed in third-party ballot access and served as campaign manager for Perot, according to an individual close to the mayor. Perot sought the presidency in 1992 and 1996. The lunch meeting with Mulford comes less than two months before Bloomberg would be able to start gathering signatures to get on the ballot and meet Texas' early deadline. If Bloomberg wants a chance at winning the state's large slice of electoral votes -- 34 -- he would need to collect about 74,100 signatures by May 12, and cannot begin circulating petitions here until March 5. Not only does he have a short window to petition, the signatures need to be from Texas residents who did not vote in a party primary. Earlier Friday, during a news conference, Bloomberg was asked about the significance of being in Texas, with its early ballot deadline. He seemed irritated with the question, having said only a moment earlier that he is "not a candidate" despite all the calls for him to run. "I just said, I'm not a candidate -- it couldn't be clearer," he said. "Which of the words do you not understand? People have urged me to do it but I'm not a candidate." Despite his public denials, Bloomberg has been consulting with people such as Mulford and is conducting a sophisticated analysis of voter data in all 50 states to better understand his chances as a third-party candidate. Aides have said he would delay a decision until after the major parties produce clear front-runners. Making a move in Texas is not easy. Ballot access is notoriously difficult in the state, according to independent political strategist Dean Barkley, who managed Kinky Friedman's independent gubernatorial campaign here in 2006. "Texas is your biggest problem, and it starts on March 5, so if he's going to do it, he's going to have to start fairly soon organizing the effort," Barkley said. Friedman's campaign spent six months organizing for their petition drive, he said. Mulford, who was formerly a partner with the law firm Jones Day, was general counsel and campaign manager for Perot's 1992 bid and in 1996 was general counsel to the Reform Party and Perot's campaign. Earlier in the day, Bloomberg appeared at an Austin hospital to talk health care with Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France champion cyclist. Armstrong is an emerging political power in Texas, and any hint that he's supporting Bloomberg would lend credence to the mayor's prospective campaign and signature-gathering efforts. Armstrong was a key figure in the state getting a large cancer-research bond issue passed and he has dabbled in national politics with his televised cancer forums for presidential candidates. He might even make a good running mate for Bloomberg; the mayor on Friday suggested Armstrong has what it takes to lead. "He's exactly the kind of person we need," Bloomberg said. Armstrong spoke just as warmly about the mayor. "I'm sure there's a lot of questions about whether he's in or not in, but at the end of the day, he's representing an independent agenda and the best interests of the people," Armstrong said. The event at Brackenridge Hospital focused on a national plan to deal with cancer. Also attending was former surgeon general Richard Carmona, who leads a coalition of health groups trying to get presidential candidates to talk about chronic health issues. Carmona, who served from 2002 to 2006 under President Bush, also leads the Surgeons General Collective, an independent body composed of previous U.S. surgeons general. On Friday, he said the group _ at Armstrong's request _ will develop a call to action focused on preventing and surviving cancer. "The need and urgency to make cancer prevention and survivorship a national priority should be clear to all of us, but the level of action and progress is not nearly what it should be," Carmona said. Carmona has not said which candidate he favors in the 2008 presidential race. He has said the coalition, The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, also will not make an endorsement. He did say that Bloomberg is "setting an example, really, for the rest of the nation." Bloomberg, a billionaire philanthropist who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to public health causes, said health issues are sadly lacking national leadership. His City Hall administration has focused more on personal behavior as its approach to public health policy; during his first term he banned smoking citywide, and recently, the city outlawed trans-fats and created the official New York City condom to promote safer sexual behavior. "If we could get people to stop smoking and exercise and to eat healthy, we would reduce the medical costs in this country quite significantly," he said, "and we could have a more intelligent discussion about how we provide care, which is fast outstripping our ability to pay for it." Bloomberg's trip was to continue Saturday in California, where he was to appear with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at an event on infrastructure.
Poster Comment: Bloomberg is holding open his options until he knows who the major party candidates are. He does not think like you and I do. He is a multi-billionaire. He is Jewish and a Zionist. You might not run for President if your poll numbers were as low as his. There is no ground swell of support for him as there was for Ross Perot. I have talked this over with Jewish Zionist friends. I told them that the real reason he is running is so that he can spend $500 million on attack ads against any candidate who does not sufficiently support Israel. They were overwhelmed with joy at the good deed Bloomberg is willing to do for Israel. I repeat: he does not think like you and I.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 22.
#1. To: Horse (#0)
Who is running that does not support Israel? I know Ron Paul would not continue sending billions a year to Israel, nor would he allow US to fight wars based on Israel's most recent nightmare. But of course RP does believe Israel has the right to exist.
Obama does not support Israel to the degree that Bloomberg would like. The support will be crucial to the nth degree if Israel is headed to war with Iran and drags America into World War III. Bloomberg probably knows what will be happening this summer. We are limited to our knowledge of what is happening now and can only guess at the strains placed on our relationship with Israel when they demand we fight to the death after they launch WW III.
I just wonder why it is that you think a big event is planned for this summer, and what kind of an event you think it might be. and I do realize that such events are planned.
As I have said before, I expect the Israelis to attack Iran with bunker busting nuclear weapons supplied by America. Bush has stationed 17,500 marines and sailors in the Persian Gulf well within range of Iran's Russian made anti-ship missiles. They could be stationed in the Indian Ocean out of range of those missiles. I believe the whole point in stationing 17,500 men and women in the Gulf is so that they can be killed. I repeat. They are there to die. The plan is to sacrifice them so that the public will demand all out war against Iran which will be the first battle of WW III. Someone stole $250,000,000 from the Israeli Civil Defense Fund so the Israelis dare not start WW III until they get some more money and finish their preparations for the coming war. We could get into martial law but I see no reason to cancel the elections if any of the mainstream candidates win the major party nominations. Martial law is designed to more easily transfer us into the New World dictatorship. The first step will be merging the U.S. with Canada and Mexico into the NAU. The U.S. Central Command has troops stationed in 27 nations.25 of 27 of these are Muslim majority countries. One rogue Muslim artillery officer could order his troops to fire on an American Air Base and 60 seconds later render that air base unusable. Our troops in 25 nations could be killed. I believe that the destruction of the American regular military and of our Reserves and of our National Guard is part of the plan to merge us into the NAU. Eventually, America is to be Balkanized with California being given to Asian- Americans and 500,000 Chinese supplied UN soldiers. I also believe that a large part of America will be given over to the Mexican drug lords, illegal aliens and Mexican supplied UN soldiers. A couple of regions will be given to the Jews. All real authority will be held by Wall Street and the London banks. I have spoken to many different Chinese people who think that California will be given to them after the U.S. goes bankrupt. China worked with Israel in the joint development of their Hydrogen bomb. This happened after Israel killed JFK because he had opposed their acquisition of the bomb. None of these plans will work out. Our leaders are insane and self-destructive. If we do not resist, we will all die when WW III really gets going.
Podhoretz: We Should Still Bomb Iran
There are no replies to Comment # 22. End Trace Mode for Comment # 22.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||