Michael Bloomberg Run for President Could Offset OddsMichael Bloomberg, New York City's current Mayor, has been mighty coy about not running for US President in 2008. But his change in party affiliation suggests he will become a candidate on the Independent card and this could seriously offset the odds.
This is Carrie Stroup reporting for Gambling911.com and I am monitoring all the latest political betting news and odds.
The implications of a Michael Bloomberg Presidential run could be enormous.
Jonathan Singer of the Moderate Voice tabulated the potential outcomes with Bloomberg as a variable.
"The quick unweighted average of this polling indicates that a Bloomberg run could help Clinton or the Democratic nominee by as much as a couple points across the board. In 10 states, a Bloomberg run boosts Clinton's net margin; in 3 states it boosts Giuliani's net margin; and in 2 states it has no net effect. At the least, these numbers seem to undercut the notion that a run by Bloomberg would hurt his first party, the Democrats. At the same time they seem to point to the possibility that a Bloomberg run could hurt -- potentially in a significant way -- the party he just left, the GOP. Either way, this is a lot of tea leaf reading, but it's still worth thinking about for a few moments."
Bloomberg claims he changed party affiliations as a result of his disgust with the current political picture in Washington.
Make no mistake about it, Bloomberg is a hot item right now with plenty of money to toss around.
Fred Siegel of the Huffington Post points out that in one recent 72-hour stretch, Bloomberg has been on the cover of Time, the subject of the feature story in BusinessWeek and a special guest on NBC's Nightly News where hard-boiled anchor tossed up softball questions.
"Whatever else he is, Bloomberg is a marketing genius," Siegel writes. "He's managed to run a presidential campaign -- he hopes the Dems will nominate Edwards and the GOP Thompson, so he can have the center all to himself in running as a self-financed independent -- without arousing the slightest bit of skepticism from the argus-eyed national press. That's well-endowed talent."
So what were Michael Bloomberg's odds of winning the 2008 US Presidential race following the big announcement?
Nothing had changed.
Sportsbook.com still had Michael Bloomberg as a 150 to 1 long shot with a potential payout of $150 for every $1 bet.
You can bet on Michael Bloomberg here even though he has not yet announced his candidacy
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Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com
Originally published June 20, 2007 12:14 pm ET
