Bloomberg says he is not eyeing White House

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Wednesday he was not a candidate for U.S. president in 2008 despite speculation he quit the Republican party to prepare to run as an independent.

A day after announcing he was no longer a Republican, Bloomberg, 65, reiterated he intends to serve as mayor until the end of his term in 2009 and then pursue philanthropy.

"I am not a candidate," the billionaire founder of financial data and media firm Bloomberg LP told reporters when asked about speculation he might run.

"I have said that my intention is to be mayor for the next 925 days ... and that is my intention. I've got the greatest job in the world and I'm going to keep doing it," he said.

Bloomberg said on Tuesday he was leaving the Republican party to bring his affiliation into alignment with how he led the city. But with the November 2008 vote more than 16 months away, not all political pundits or New Yorkers believed him.

"Clearly, Mayor Bloomberg is positioning himself to run as an independent, but this doesn't necessarily mean that he will run for president in 2008," said Hunter College politics Professor Kenneth Sherrill. "He is not likely to run if he does not think he has a good chance of winning."

Amin Abubakar, a 25-year-old Bronx resident selling tickets for a tour bus in Times Square said, "I think he is going to run because of all the publicity that he has gained. I think he is trying to get known and get support."

Bloomberg was a Democrat who became a Republican to run for mayor in 2001 in a city where the Democratic nomination is viewed as harder to win. He was re-elected as a Republican in 2005 and is barred from seeking a third term in 2009.

The mayor has governed on economic issues as a fiscal conservative but is more liberal on social issues such as gun control and gay marriage as well as the environment.

NATIONAL ISSUES

Bloomberg also tried to justify his travel -- visiting 20 U.S. cities in the past 18 months, according to the New York Post -- and why he has been speaking out on national issues.

"I feel very strongly I should be out there talking about those issues that influence New York City and that are dealt with at a national level," he said.

"Guns on the streets for example, homeland security funds and how you allocate those and lobbying Congress and working with Congress, or congestion pricing, the solid waste management plan," he said, sounding ever the candidate.

"Those are things you have to be out of town for."

"I am particularly upset that the big issues of the time keep getting pushed to the back and we focus on small things that only inside the (Washington) Beltway are important."