New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans, who will join him in challenging the major party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a "government of national unity" to end the gridlock in Washington.
Others who will be at the Jan. 7 session at the University of Oklahoma said that if the likely nominees of the two parties do not pledge to "go beyond tokenism" in building an administration that seeks national consensus, they will be prepared to back Bloomberg or someone else in a third-party campaign for president.
The list of attendees suggests the group could muster the financial and political firepower to make the threat of such a candidacy real. Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn of Georgia, Charles Robb of Virginia and David Boren of Oklahoma, and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican attendees are to include Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, former party chairman Bill Brock, former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.
| All of whom have lost at least one big election, and several of whom grabbed for the big, brass ring only to end up with empty hands. Hmmmmph. |
Boren, who will host the meeting at the university, where he is president, said: "It is not a gathering to urge any one person to run for president, or to say there necessarily ought to be an independent option. But if we don't see a refocusing of the campaign on a bipartisan approach, I would feel I would want to encourage an independent candidacy."
Others who have indicated they plan to attend the one-day session include William Cohen, former Republican senator from Maine and defense secretary in the second Clinton administration; Alan Dixon, former Democratic senator from Illinois; Bob Graham, former Democratic senator from Florida; Jim Leach, former Republican congressman from Iowa; Susan Eisenhower, a political consultant and granddaughter of former President Eisenhower; David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency; and Edward Perkins, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Bloomberg, a former Democrat who was elected mayor of New York as a Republican, left the GOP over the summer to become an independent. While disclaiming any plan to run for president in 2008, he has continued to fuel speculation by traveling widely and speaking out on domestic and international issues. The mayor, a billionaire many times over, presumably could self-finance even a late-starting candidacy. "As mayor, he has seen far too often how hyperpartisanship in Washington has gotten in the way of making progress on a host of issues," said Bloomberg's press secretary, Stu Loeser. "He looks forward to sitting down and discussing this with other leaders."
Until plans for the meeting were disclosed, the most concrete public move toward any kind of independent candidacy was by Unity08, a group planning an online nominating convention to pick either an independent candidate or a ticket combining a Republican and a Democrat. The sponsors, an eclectic mix of consultants who have worked for candidates ranging from Democrat Jimmy Carter to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., have not aligned with a specific prospect.
Some people with high-level political and governmental credentials are moving to put muscle behind the new effort. A letter from Nunn and Boren sent to those who plan to attend the Jan. 7 session said "our political system is, at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time ... America must lead boldly at home and abroad. Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion in America's power of leadership and example."
At the session, Boren said, participants will try to draft a statement on such issues as the need to "rebuild and reconfigure our military forces" and restoring U.S. credibility in the world. "Today, we are a house divided," the letter said. "We believe that the next president must be able to call for a unity of effort by choosing the best talent available — without regard to political party — to help lead our nation."
| The list of potential attendees *does* appear to contain the names of actual adults, rather than a bunch of whiny Tranzis. Except these were all the folks in charge when Osama was setting up shop. Your thoughts? |
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