Bloomberg-McCain

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

The most newsworthy moment in yesterday’s Republican presidential debate in Iowa came when Senator McCain was asked about education. Mr. McCain replied by saying, “In New York City today there are remarkable things happening under Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein.” It may have been a subtle dig at Mr. Bloomberg’s predecessor, Mayor Giuliani, Mr. McCain’s rival for the Republican nomination. But it was also a case of Mr. McCain praising, in Mr. Bloomberg, a man who is considering a presidential bid of his own. That consideration is so active, Davidson Goldin reports on our front page today, that Mr. Bloomberg has asked Governor Pataki to hang back from endorsing anyone until Mr. Bloomberg makes up his mind about whether to run.

It raises some possibilities. If Mr. McCain does not win the Republican nomination, perhaps he could fetch up as a vice presidential candidate on Mr. Bloomberg ‘s independent ticket. Mr. Bloomberg could certainly use the sound bite in television commercials in states where Mr. McCain has a strong following. Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bloomberg, has an independent streak. As a vice presidential pick, he could add foreign-policy heft, Washington experience, military credibility, and a compelling personal story to a Bloomberg ticket. He would also bring regional balance and a Middle-American wholesomeness.

We’ve long said that our favorite Bloomberg running mate would be Senator Lieberman, another centrist who has experience as a vice presidential candidate. But the praise from Mr. McCain is only the latest indication of the potential that a Bloomberg presidential candidacy would have to draw support from a wide range of the political spectrum and from surprising points on it. Mr. Bloomberg, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent, and Mr. Klein, a Clinton administration Justice Department official, are being praised by Mr. McCain, a Republican Senator from Arizona. Mr. McCain has been a constructive voice in Washington in support of the American surge in Iraq and in support of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. What a combination.

It will be pointed out — no doubt — that Mr. McCain is a pro-life conservative while Mr. Bloomberg is so pro-choice that he, in what we thought was a scandalous demarche, actually opposed the nomination of John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States. Mr. McCain is a plain-language advocate of the Second Amendment, whereas the mayor is on a campaign against what he calls “illegal guns.” We’ve had our differences with Mr. McCain, particularly in respect of his campaign to regulate political speech through campaign finance restrictions. But a Bloomberg-McCain ticket would, precisely by joining together two candidates on opposite sides of these issues, underscore that the principles for which they would be fighting are larger still.

We’ve not endorsed a candidate in either the Republican primary or the general election, but we have been nursing the idea of a Bloomberg run longer and more ardently than the other newspapers for a reason — the kind of reason Mr. McCain recognized by tipping his hat to Messrs. Bloomberg and Klein, the latter, by the way, being a liberal who can work with Republicans. It’s been said that the presidential nominations will be decided earlier than ever. But the insertion of Mr. Bloomberg into the Republican debate is an indicator that the race may take shape later than anyone expects. Even if Mr. McCain eventually backs the Republican nominee, Mr. Bloomberg, if he is to mount an independent campaign, will need to draw support from voters who feel positively about the senator who, when the dropped out youths of the 1960s were celebrating at the Woodstock festival for which Mrs. Clinton wants to earmark a museum, was, as he put it so famously, tied up.


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