Bloomberg...
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Mayor of the Month for August 2012
Michael Bloomberg
Mayor of New York
"Given his lifelong Democrat affiliation prior to seeking the GOP nomination, Bloomberg was seen as a liberal Republican before his 2007 Independent registration and has stated his belief in gun control, a woman's right to choose abortion and same-sex marriages. In 2012 these sticking points have seen him back away from endorsing Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, having stayed tight-lipped on any preference in 2008.
Bloomberg coasted to re-election in 2005, defeating his Democrat challenger, the former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, by a margin of 20 per cent, the highest ever for a Republican in the city. Bloomberg was re-selected unopposed by the Republicans for their nomination, though one disgruntled party activist ran as a Conservative in the race in opposition to Bloomberg's liberal outlook and 'betrayal' of Republican ideals. Though initially prevented from standing again at the end of his term in 2009, Bloomberg has already joined Rudy Giuliani and Fiorello LaGuardia as the city's most successful Republican mayors – in October 2008 the city council voted to suspend its term limits on account of the financial crisis, enabling him to successfully run for a third term.
Mayor Bloomberg frequently appeared in press speculation linked to a potential presidential bid in 2008, not least because of the wide-open field this time round.
In June 2007 he changed his registered affiliation from Republican to Independent, feverishly renewing such speculation. Though reticent on his post-mayoral ambitions and coy about stating anything beyond a return to philanthropy once he departs from city hall, permutations of a Bloomberg ticket included Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa, a Democrat, as a potential vice president to add political and geographical balance.
However, Bloomberg’s social liberalism, most notably his stance on gun control, seen as hardline anti in key swing states, would have rendered such a bid difficult to say the least. Though hailed for his work as the figurehead of the 600-strong Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, the outrage which followed Bloomberg's foray outside of his own city jurisdiction, not to mention state, into Virginia as part of an entrapment stunt designed to demonstrate the state's lax gun laws, was seen as a wider sign of his Yankee stigma to the electorate south of the Mason-Dixon line. In February 2008 Bloomberg killed off any speculation once and for all when he stated: "I am not — and will not be — a candidate for president." Ahead of the 2012 race, Bloomberg sought to draw a line under any discussion by saying “no way, no how”, as he also did concerning a mooted run for state governor in 2010."
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http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/new_york_mayor.html
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