Across the pond

Michael Bloomberg has once again indicated that he will not be standing for the US Presidential. But this time not in response to journalists’ questions but in a written editoriial posted today on the New York Times website. For some months now Bloomberg, currently Mayor of New York, has been denying that he would be run while his aides have been insisting that he is considering standing and was perpared to spend some of his billions by making a late entry as in independent candidate.

The statement does not leave any space for ambiguity. This is the quote:

 I believe that an independent approach to these issues is essential to governing our nation — and that an independent can win the presidency. I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not — and will not be — a candidate for president.I believe that an independent approach to these issues is essential to governing our nation — and that an independent can win the presidency. I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not — and will not be — a candidate for president.

But he goes on to say that he is going to be active in the fight. Another quote:

And while I have always said I am not running for president, the race is too important to sit on the sidelines, and so I have changed my mind in one area. If a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach — and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy — I’ll join others in helping that candidate win the White House.

Quite what this means is more difficult to guess. But it does read a bit like a job application. Of the three candidates left both McCain and Obama have been stressing the non-partizan approach; only Clinton is so closely identified with the Democratic Party machine that she is not a credible independent. So is this very public editorial an invitation to either McCain or Obama to woo him as a potential cabinet minister or even Vice President?