Portable Planet

The whispers that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be considering an independent run for President got much louder yesterday.

The Mayor announced that he was leaving the Republican party and now is beholden to no political party.

“I just spoke to sources very close to Mayor Bloomberg and the strategy’s quite simple. He is positioning himself for a potential — potential, underscore potential — independent run for the presidency,” said MSNBC’s Tim Russert. “He will make a decision in early of 2008, depending on who the major parties nominate and the tone of the campaign. He believes the Democrats are tacking left; the Republicans are tacking right. There’s a broad center available.”

Michael Bloomberg released the following statement to the press:

“I have filed papers with the New York City Board of Elections to change my status as a voter and register as unaffiliated with any political party. 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.

“A nonpartisan approach has worked wonders in New York: we’ve balanced budgets, grown our economy, improved public health, reformed the school system and made the nation’s safest city even safer.

“We have achieved real progress by overcoming the partisanship that too often puts narrow interests above the common good. As a political independent, I will continue to work with those in all political parties to find common ground, to put partisanship aside and to achieve real solutions to the challenges we face.

“Any successful elected executive knows that real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology. Working together, there’s no limit to what we can do.”