Who is afraid of Michael Bloomberg? Not the head of the Republican National Committee.
During two Wednesday afternoon cable news appearances, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus brushed aside the suggestion that a potential Bloomberg presidential run on an independent ticket would hurt the Republican Party.
“It is a blessing to the party,” Priebus said on Fox News’ “Happening Now.”
“It is helpful to us,” he continued. “Happy for him to grab a ticket and get on board.”
Only fifteen minutes later, the RNC chair made the same point to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“I don’t view it as a third party,” Priebus said. “I view it as another Democrat so you’ll have two Democrats running and splitting their vote. Look, he’s been fighting and pounding away at Republicans for how long now? He wants to tax slurpees and sodas. The guy is a liberal Democrat so great, if they want to have two Democrats run and split their vote and let us compete in places like Connecticut and New Hampshire and Maine—places we used to win 20 years ago—we’ll take it. Honestly it’s no skin off our back.”
The former New York City mayor last week floated the possibility that he may make a belated entrance into the 2016 race. He told the Financial Times that he is “looking at all the options” because American voters “deserve better” than what we’ve seen in this election cycle thus far.
“I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters,” Bloomberg told FT.
Other conservative leaders, including News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, have echoed Priebus’ support for a Bloomberg candidacy.
where is the polling that he has any national constituency. i doubt even half of the country knows he’s a former mayor of nyc – besides, which, that’s not going to be a plus to many of them. and his billionaire status isn’t going to work like trump’s does… trump was known as much as a celebrity as a billionaire. plus he’s a bully – that’s a huge attraction to a certain segment. the only people cheering him on are the media eager to buddy up to him, and the political consultants with dreams of tapping into the campaign booty.
Said the man with no analytical skills.
He’ll probably run if it’s Sanders vs. Trump. I don’t think he runs if Hillary gets the nomination because then he really has no path to victory.
Really? He thinks a relatively sane alternative (or “out”) for for non-batshit GOPers to choose instead of voting for Trump or Cruz is going to help the GOP?
He’d peel a few votes from Hillary in the NE, but sheesh, not enough to matter nationally.