Draft Bloomberg Group Sees Many Signs of Growth

When Mayor Bloomberg arrives at Cooper Union tonight for a panel discussion on national policy matters, he can expect to be greeted by a small group of people waving signs and trying to convince him to run for president.

So far, the Committee to Draft Michael Bloomberg is a low-budget organization with a Web site that was recently spruced up by the boyfriend of one of the members, yet its push to get Mr. Bloomberg into the race as a third-party candidate is gaining momentum.

The head of the New York City Draft Bloomberg group, Karin Gallet, said that when she first took over a few months ago she had a mailing list of about "eight people, including four that were family members."

Now she is communicating with about 1,000 supporters on the Internet through e-mail and networking Web sites such as Facebook.com. According to another member of the Draft Bloomberg team, Frank Morano, the group is looking at office space in Midtown Manhattan.

"If we continue at this pace exponentially we'll have to do that," Ms. Gallet said about an office. "Right now I'm at Kinko's getting the signs made" for tonight's event.

Mr. Morano said a decision on the office will be made in the next couple of weeks, and that the group might be able to get space at a "cheap" rate.

Ms Gallet said the movement started gaining steam in June, when Mr. Bloomberg announced he was dropping out of the Republican Party and becoming an independent. While the group's weekly meetings at the Old Town Bar on East 18th Street usually draw only between five and 15 people, the Internet support and anecdotal evidence from those asking about whether the mayor is going to run suggests there is interest in his candidacy, Ms. Gallet said.

Mr. Bloomberg, while denying that he plans to run for the White House, is giving supporters plenty of red meat.

He has a packed travel schedule and has been making appearances in front of many of the same groups as the 2008 presidential candidates. Yesterday, his office announced he would give a speech at a national conference in New Orleans in November.

Tonight's appearance at Cooper Union, is part of a forum series that at least one presidential contender, Senator Edwards, has already participated in. This weekend, the mayor will stop in Paris, London, and Blackpool, England, where he will speak at the Conservative Party Conference.

Yesterday Mr. Bloomberg said yet again that he's not interested in running for president, despite the launch of a national Independence Party that is trying to woo him. In the last 72 hours, however, he's also said, "I don't know why you have to have two parties," and noted that his name will not "be mentioned once on any of the primaries for either party."

Of course, an independent candidate would be able to bypass the primaries.

One of the founders of Unity08, an online group pushing to draft a bipartisan ticket, Douglas Bailey, said the real draft movement would start after candidates from the two major political parties emerge in February.

Ms. Gallet said her group would continue until City Hall tells it to stop.

"If the mayor says stop we will stop," she said. "But he's not saying that now." In the meantime, she said the group is busy, but is not taking itself too seriously.

After its small rally at tonight's event, they'll be back at Old Town for beer and burgers.