Mayor Bloomberg doesn't seem to put much stock into loyalty to political parties. Imagine that, from the Democrat-turned Republican-turned Independent, who now hopes to be given another shot as the Republican candidate for mayor come November. Bloomberg sounded less like a political maverick and more of a political mystic today at a press conference, refusing to confirm who he voted for in last year's presidential election and emphasizing that he supports David Paterson at governor—but then quickly having aides insist that this was not an endorsement.
Bloomberg was asked if political parties matter in New York and said that New Yorkers prefer a candidate over a party, illustrated by our heavily Democratic town electing "somebody on the Republican line" for mayor in the last four elections—as opposed to, of course, actual Republicans. The video is below.
Interesting that Bloomberg says that when it comes to how partisan allegiances lie, "I've never really studied the rest of the country that carefully." We assumed that might have been an inquiry made by someone conducting polls in preparation for a possible third-party run for president last year. And if Bloomberg is in fact trying to form an alliance with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani as Republicans who can win in New York, bringing up Giuliani's controversial endorsement of Mario Cuomo in 1994 might not be the best way to do it.
