Gubernatorial campaign

On November 6, 2007, the New York Post detailed efforts by New York Republicans to recruit Bloomberg to oppose then-incumbent Governor Eliot Spitzer in the 2010 election. Early polls indicated Bloomberg would defeat Spitzer in a landslide. (The potential 2010 match-up became moot when Spitzer resigned on March 17, 2008.) A March 20, 2008 poll of New York State voters had the Mayor topping newly ascended Governor David Paterson and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the 2010 gubernatorial election. Bloomberg has denied any plans to run for the governorship in 2010.

On October 2, 2008, Bloomberg announced that he would seek to extend the city's term limits law and run for a third mayoral term in 2009, arguing that a leader of his field is needed during the Wall Street financial crisis. "Handling this financial crisis while strengthening essential services ... is a challenge I want to take on," Bloomberg told at a news conference. "So should the City Council vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership and then decide if I have earned another term". Although the public is split about the announcement, many elite New Yorkers such as David Rockefeller former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and prominent businessmen including Jamie Dimon, Lloyd Blankfein, and Mortimer Zuckerman have voiced support for such a proposal and recently published an open letter urging the City Council to extend the term limits.

On October 23, the City Council voted 29-22 in favor of extending the term limit to three consecutive four-year terms, thus allowing Bloomberg to run for office again. After two days of public hearings, Bloomberg signed the bill into law on November 3. A federal lawsuit was filed one week later, challenging the new legislation. One critic declared that Bloomberg's tactics in seeking a third term, along with his failure to foresee the Wall Street crisis at the same time his policies were making the City more dependent on finance, real estate and tourism, are proof that Bloomberg is unfit for the job.

At the 2007 Commencement exercises for Tufts University, Bloomberg delivered the commencement address at graduation. He was awarded an honorary degree in Public Service from the university. Likewise, Bloomberg delivered the 2007 commencement address at Bard College, where he was also awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. In February 2003, he received the "Award for Distinguished Leadership in Global Capital Markets" from the Yale School of Management. He was named the 39th most influential person in the world in the 2007 Time 100. In September, 2007, Vanity Fair ranked him #9 in its "Vanity Fair 100: The 2007 New Establishment." In May 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by the University of Pennsylvania, where he delivered the commencement speech to the class of 2008. Bloomberg will also deliver the commencement address to the class of 2008 at Barnard College, Columbia University after receiving the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the College's highest honor.