Speculation mounts of Bloomberg presidential bid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg may simply be promoting bipartisanship or he may be plotting his own independent presidential campaign.

Either way, he is drawing media attention amid the hotly contested party nominating battles for Iowa and New Hampshire by becoming the star attraction at a January 7 meeting of Unity08, a bipartisan group that believes the Republican and Democratic parties are out of touch and unduly influenced by special interests.

Bloomberg's spokesman denied speculation the billionaire mayor was going to the meeting at the University of Oklahoma to promote a potential independent, self-financed run for president.

"He is going because he has seen again and again as mayor how hyper-partisanship in Washington isn't just getting in the way of big reforms, it's getting in the way of any meaningful progress on a whole host of issues," Stu Loeser said in statement.

"He's looking forward to the opportunity to sit down with like-minded leaders to try and find solutions," Loeser said.

Unity08 was formed in 2006 and includes prominent Democrats such as former senators Sam Nunn of Georgia and David Boren of Oklahoma and Republicans including Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

The group says the meeting will focus on discussion of ways to end polarization in American politics.

The forum takes place on Monday, four days after the Iowa caucus and one day before the New Hampshire primary, crucial contests to decide the major party candidates for the November 2008 election.

"To me there is no coincidence in politics and it raises the possibility of a Bloomberg race," said New York civil rights leader and 2004 Democratic presidential contender Al Sharpton.

'ITCHING' TO RUN

Bloomberg repeatedly has said he is not a candidate, but he has been traveling the country speaking out on national issues such as gun control and the environment. The Oklahoma meeting has only fueled more speculation.

The New York Times on Monday reported that Bloomberg is "growing increasingly enchanted" with the idea of an independent presidential run while both the New York Post and the Daily News carried front-page headlines suggesting the Oklahoma meeting was a launching pad for a White House bid.

The longtime Democrat became a billionaire through the successful financial information and media company he founded, Bloomberg LP.

He then turned to politics, switching to the Republican Party to run for mayor in 2001. He won twice, spending more than $150 million of his own money, then turned independent in June.

Former Republican candidate and current Rudy Giuliani supporter Steve Forbes told CNN of Bloomberg: "He's itching to do it. ... Unless something extraordinary happens, I expect him in the race."

If he runs, political analysts say Bloomberg could mount the strongest independent presidential campaign since Texas businessman Ross Perot in 1992.

But one leading political analyst doubted Bloomberg will run because he in all likelihood cannot win, noting there is no precedent for a successful independent campaign and suggesting Bloomberg might simply siphon enough votes from the Democrats to hand the election to the Republican nominee.

"This is a country that has been organized along party lines," said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

Press reports suggest a small group of advisers are preparing for a presidential campaign and urging him to run.

One of them is Kevin Sheekey, the deputy mayor for government affairs. New York Times reporter Diane Cardwell wrote in a blog that Sheekey is known around City Hall as "deputy mayor for running for president."

(Additional reporting by Joanne Kenen in Washington and Edith Honan in New York)