2008 presidential campaign speculation

Bloomberg announced that he would not run for president in 2008, and that he would endorse a candidate who takes an independent and non-partisan approach. He had also stated unequivocally, live on the Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve TV show, December 31, 2007, that he was not going to run for president in 2008. Despite previous public statements by Bloomberg denying plans for a presidential run, many pundits cited events that led them to believe that Bloomberg would announce a campaign at a later date. On January 7, 2008, he met with a bipartisan group of elder statesmen at the University of Oklahoma, including Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel and former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn, both of whom had been frequently mentioned as possible running mates, to pressure the major party candidates to promote national unity and reduce partisan gridlock. Speculation that Bloomberg would choose this forum to announce his candidacy proved to be unfounded. Other purported signs that he planned to run included:

In summer 2006, he met with Al From of the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group, to talk about the logistics of a possible run. After a conversation with Bloomberg, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska suggested that he and Bloomberg could run on a shared independent ticket for the presidency. On This Week on June 10, 2007, anchor George Stephanopoulos included panelist Jay Carney, who mentioned a conversation between Bloomberg and top staffers where he heard Bloomberg ask approximately how much a presidential campaign would cost. Carney said that one staffer replied, "Around $500 million." According to a Washington Post article, a $500 million budget would allow Bloomberg to circumvent many of the common obstacles faced by third party candidates seeking the White House. * On June 19, 2007,

Bloomberg left the Republican Party, filing as an independent after a speech criticizing the current political climate in Washington.On August 9, 2007, in an interview with former CBS anchor Dan Rather that aired on August 21, Bloomberg categorically stated that he was not running for President, that he would not be running, and that there were no circumstances in which he would, saying, "If somebody asks me where I stand, I tell them. And that’s not a way to get elected, generally. Nobody’s going to elect me president of the United States. What I’d like to do is to be able to influence the dialogue. I’m a citizen." Despite continued denials, a possible Bloomberg candidacy continues to be the subject of media attention, including a November Newsweek cover story.

During a private reception in December 2007, Bloomberg conducted a version of bingo, in which guests were to guess the meaning of the numbers on a printed card. When Mr. Bloomberg asked the significance of 271 one guest answered correctly, the number of electoral votes received by George W. Bush in 2000. In January 2008, CNN reported that a source close to Bloomberg said that the mayor had launched a research effort to assess his chances of winning a potential presidential bid. According to the report, the unidentified source also stated that Bloomberg had set early March as a timetable for making decision as whether or not to run. On January 16, 2008, it was reported that Bloomberg's business interests were placed in "a sort of blind trust" because of the possible run for the presidency. His interests were put under the management of Quadrangle Group, co-founded by reported Bloomberg friend Steven Rattner, though Bloomberg