Mike Bloomberg, “I’m Not Running for President”

Fellow colleagues,

In the many months since we began our efforts to Draft Mike Bloomberg, it has been an honor and a pleasure to volunteer with you all. In today’s New York Times, Mike Bloomberg has firmly and finally put an end to the notion that he may be drafted to run for the Presidency in 2008. In his closing statement he said;

“In the weeks and months ahead, I will continue to work to steer the national conversation away from partisanship and toward unity; away from ideology and toward common sense; away from sound bites and toward substance. And while I have always said I am not running for president, the race is too important to sit on the sidelines, and so I have changed my mind in one area. If a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach — and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy — I’ll join others in helping that candidate win the White House.”

So there you have it. Will John McCain be this independent candidate? What about Barack Obama, will he beat out Hillary Clinton in the primary or will the Super Delegates decide at the Denver convention? Will either of these or any other Democratic candidate emerge and embrace this “independent, nonpartisan approach”? Quite frankly - I do not know.

What I do know is that since this project began we have collected 2064 signature through one site and 587 signatures through another. We have researched, written, advocated for and helped organize the grassroots foundations for a Mike Bloomberg run. Our efforts even appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, ABC news, and international press. More importantly, our story was told by smaller papers like the New York Observer and Norman Transcript - by reporters like Azi Paybarah and Julianna Parker - who managed to focus on the human aspect of the Draft efforts, something which the larger papers simply glossed over.

I would like to thank every member of the community, especially at RunMikeBloomberg.com, DraftBloomberg.com, RunMikeRun.com, and all of those who helped highlight the need for a Mike Bloomberg presidential run - including the pro-Mike Bloomberg Vloggers.

I would especially like to thank Michael White, Greg Paoli, Jeff Ingalls, Dave Wakeman, John Milligan, Kevin Moore, Phil Wray, Alex Innes, BL Ochman, Karin Gallet, Matt Guercio - and others. Finally, I would like to thank my good friend Citizen Ben, whose efforts and advice were invaluable toward achieving our many successes.

Personally, this whole experience has left me with the unmistakable impression that if we the people truly want to take our nation back, all we must do is unite and refuse to accept single minded partisan bickering where as what we want is result oriented nonpartisan leadership. I look forward to the future and I look forward to working with you all again.

Regards.

Tags: mike bloomberg for president