New York Mayor Michael Bloom-berg announced that he has left the Republican Party and become unaffiliated in what many believe could be a step toward entering next year's race for president.
The 65-year-old former tycoon, who was a lifelong Democrat before he switched to the Republican Party for his first mayoral run, said the change on Tuesday in voter registration does not mean he is running for president.
Still, Bloomberg has fueled such notions with increasing out-of-state travel, greater focus on national issues and repeated criticism of partisan politics, all the while vowing to leave public office at the end of his second term as mayor in 2009.
"Although my plans for the future haven't changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city," Bloomberg said in a statement on Tuesday.
Notwithstanding Bloomberg's coyness, the mayor's announcement only increases speculation he will pursue the White House, challenging the Democratic and Republican nominees with a well-financed third-party bid.
Bloomberg, who founded the Bloomberg LP financial news service, has an estimated worth of more than US$5 billion and easily could underwrite a White House run, much as Texas businessman Ross Perot did in 1992. Bloomberg spent more than US$155 million for his two mayoral campaigns, including US$85 million when he won his second term in 2005.
A Bloomberg entry into the presidential contest could inject additional turmoil into an already wide-open race, but there is no clear consensus on what effect a Bloomberg candidacy would have.
Some people believe Bloomberg's moderate positions would siphon votes from the Democrats. Others say he could just as easily spoil it for the Republicans.
In 1992, Perot captured 19 percent of the popular vote as Democrat Bill Clinton seized the presidency from then-president George Bush, a Republican. Independent Ralph Nader played the spoiler in the 2000 race, taking votes from then vice president Al Gore in a disputed election won by George W. Bush.
Throughout his five years as mayor, Bloomberg often has been at odds with his party and Bush. He supports gay marriage, abortion rights, gun control and stem cell research and hiked property taxes to help solve a fiscal crisis after the Sept. 11 attacks.
But he never seemed willing to part with the Republicans completely, raising money for the 2004 presidential convention and contributing money to Bush and other Republican candidates.
Just last year, he told a group of Manhattan Republicans about his run for mayor: "I couldn't be prouder to run on the Republican ticket and be a Republican."
Asked on Monday about a hypothetical independent candidate entering the race, Bloomberg launched a broad critique of the Bush administration and the US Congress and lamented the presidential debates to date.
"I think the country is in trouble," he said, citing the war in Iraq and the nation's declining standing globally.
"Our reputation has been hurt very badly in the last few years," he said. "We've had a go-it-alone mentality in a world where, because of communications and transportation, you should be going exactly in the other direction."
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