It occurred to me a year ago that Bloomberg would make a great president. He has been a very effective mayor of New York. He restored fiscal balance and cooperated with the democrats after the factious Giuliani years. He has been in both parties. He is a pragmatist. He’s independently wealthy and not beholden to any special interest groups. He is a true social liberal and fiscal conservative where I believe the silent majority of Americans lie.

I did not mention it before, because I did not see how it could happen. But now that he quit the Republican Party to become an Independent and a few publications mentioned he was considering a run, the path seems clearer.

In the end, whether or not he runs will depend on the Democratic and Republican candidates. For better or worse, Hillary Clinton and most of the Republican candidates are divisive. Should they be nominated as party candidates, it creates a clear opening for Bloomberg to enter the race on a centrist, pragmatic, bipartisan platform "healing” the nation after a partisan and divisive Bush presidency. If Obama is the Democratic candidate, that opportunity would probably not exist, given the similarity in his positioning.

Given that he does not need to fund raise, Bloomberg does not have to enter the race until 2008. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens!

In the meantime, the rumors of a bid for a presidency do Bloomberg no harm in New York, where he remains relevant despite being in his last term as mayor.