Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, who has spent many months (if not years) hinting about his boss's presidential ambitions, is still stirring the pot of rumors. Last night on NY1's Inside City Hall, Sheekey, "promoted the idea of an Obama-Bloomberg presidential ticket."
Sheekey revealed that after Bloomberg's official announcement/NY Times op-ed about not running for president, Barack Obama had a chat with the billionaire mayor:
"Certainly you could joke that Obama's call was a fundraising call yesterday. The man [Bloomberg] has the ability to finance a campaign. I don't think that’s why you choose a vice president. I do think that people are going to be very concerned about the influence of special-interest money in this campaign going forward.
“I think it was a reasonably short call, you know, I was briefed. I was told they had a nice call and I spoke to the mayor after they had breakfast a few months ago. Back to Obama -- you were the one asking about an Obama ticket. I think the mayor is the ultimate swing voter. He is someone who the country is looking at to find out where they will go. He is one of the true independents in the country."
In fact, he's so independent, Bloomberg has made some substantial donations to the NY State GOP, in spite of not being a (fake) Republican anymore. Anyway, maybe the call was a way for Bloomberg to influence the national debate. Or the call could be construed as a thank you call, as some polls indicate that if Bloomberg ran, he would have siphoned independent votes from Obama (if he got the nomination) in key states.
Keep in mind, Sheekey made $700,000 in bonus and salary when he worked on Bloomberg's 2005 reelection campaign, so it could be in his interest for Bloomberg to jump into another campaign.
