Obama Surge Could Pull Plug on Bid by Bloomberg

Both men after independent voters
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 8, 2008 5:18 AM CST
Obama Surge Could Pull Plug on Bid by Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, gestures as he answers a question at a press conference at a bipartisan summit in Norman, Okla., Monday, Jan. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)   (Associated Press)

The ongoing popularity surge by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama may short-circuit potential plans by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to enter the race as an independent, reports the New York Times. “Obama is trying to reach out to independent voters, and that clearly would be the constituency that Mike Bloomberg would go after,” said a spokesman of Draft Mike Bloomberg for President 2008.

“An Obama victory does not make it impossible, but it certainly makes it more difficult," he added. Bloomberg met with leading Republican and Democratic moderates in Oklahoma at a bipartisan summit yesterday, in part to gauge their receptiveness to a third-party candidacy. Depending on Obama's continued success, Bloomberg could throw his hat in the ring in March. (More Michael Bloomberg stories.)

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