It is fifteen years since the last wealthy magnate mounted an independent presidential campaign. Ross Perot promised to do something about that “giant sucking sound” that meant U.S. jobs flocking toward Mexico. Perot didn’t capture a single electoral vote in 1992 but his roughly 20 percent of the popular vote is credited with helping tip the election to Bill Clinton over President Bush 41.  New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg insists he’s not running, has no interest in leaving his job, etc., but the coincidence of his swing through California this week and his departure from the Republican Party was lost on no one.  His speech in Los Angeles painted the country in a troubled light and amounted to a long attack on Washington, which he called a “swamp of dysfunction.” He offered his example of leadership on everything from health care to global warming and said the current partisan gridlock was deferring problems like immigration to future generations.

Speaking at Google headquarters in Silicon Valley, Bloomberg said the country’s “reputation has been hurt very badly in the last few years” and he criticized what he called the Bush administration’s “go-it-alone mentality.” Bloomberg’s can-do approach might strike a chord with Americans outside New York. Polls show consistent widespread dissatisfaction with both the president and Congress under either party’s leadership. The fact that two undeclared candidates – Republican Fred Thompson and Democrat Al Gore – continue to poll relatively gaudy numbers  in very crowded fields says something about the current of discontent.

It is worth noting how Bloomberg ascended to the mayoralty in New York. Out of synch with the heavily Democratic city political bosses, Bloomberg became a Republican. Just months after the trauma of the 9/11 attacks, with predictions of economic doom in the air, he projected the confidence of a leader who “can get the job done” and handily won office, spending buckets of his own cash in the process. With New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani already among the frontrunners, the New York Times notes Bloomberg’s potential candidacy could set the stage for a real brawl among Gotham’s politicians. 

Rudy gets an incomplete from the Iraq Study Group: Newsday, meanwhile, quotes sources on the Iraq Study Group describing the circumstances in which Giuliani dropped off the panel in 2006. (He was replaced in May 2006 by a Reagan-era attorney general, Edwin Meese). At the time, Giuliani explained he has been unable to devote time to the group. Some now suggest, however, it was uncomfortable for him to be associated with a group that advocated an early pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq. The New York Sun’s normally Rudy-friendly blog, Latest Politics, says Giuliani quit “in favor of giving millions of dollars worth of speeches trading on his status as the ‘hero of 9/11.’ Others defended the move as a way of avoiding the politicization of the ISG. The New York Times helpfully republishes what the former mayor said about the decision last year:

“It seemed to me that it should be apolitical,” Mr. Giuliani said when asked in December 2006 about his decision. “The people who were on it are all people who have had very, very distinguished careers, but none of them are actively involved in politics or considering running for office.”