NEW YORK (AP) – Mayor Bloomberg did little on Wednesday to quiet the fierce speculation about a possible independent presidential bid, declaring he intends to remain in his current job but saying of the White House race: “The more people that run for office the better.”

A day after quitting the Republican Party and registering as unaffiliated, Mr. Bloomberg continued to send mixed signals about his intentions, discussing both his mayoral term and vowing to address the major issues facing the country.

“I’ve got the greatest job in the world,” he told reporters at a news conference in downtown Manhattan to promote the city’s non-emergency information hot line.

Asked whether he’d jump into the race early next year if voters are lukewarm about the leading candidates after the first wave of primaries, he said, “I do think the more people that run for office, the better. …Hopefully, this country is smart enough to pick somebody who is able to lead this country forward.”

After some six years as a Republican, the 65-year-old former CEO announced Tuesday that he has left the Republican Party and become unaffiliated in what many believe could be a step toward entering the 2008 race for president.

He has fueled those rumors with increasing out-of-state travel, greater focus on national issues and repeated criticism for the way the country is run by partisan politics, all the while vowing to leave public office at the end of his term in 2009.

On Wednesday, he offered opinions on gun control, public education, immigration, Iran and several other topics that have come up in the presidential campaign.

“The big issues keep being pushed to the back … I’m going to speak out on those issues. By not being affiliated with a party, I think I will have a better opportunity to do that,” the mayor said.

He said that speculation that he could enter the race was “flattering” but added, “I’m not a candidate. … We even have two people from New York who are candidates for president of the United States. I’m not sure the state needs a third.”

Explaining his decision to file papers dropping his party affiliation, he said he would be better able to speak freely on important issues affecting the city and nation.

“If you are independent, it just gives you a flexibility and the more I thought about that, the more it felt right,” he said.

Mr. Bloomberg, who founded the Bloomberg LP financial news service, has an estimated worth of more than $5 billion and easily could underwrite a White House run, much like Texas businessman Ross Perot did in 1992. Bloomberg spent more than $155 million for his two mayoral campaigns, including $85 million when he won his second term in 2005.

A Mr. Bloomberg entry into the presidential contest would turn the wide-open race on its head.

The belief among some operatives is that Mr. Bloomberg’s moderate positions would siphon votes from the Democratic nominee. But some say he could just as easily spoil it for the Republicans.

A Quinnipiac University poll, conducted last week and released Wednesday, found that among New York state voters, Democratic Senator Clinton led at 43 percent followed by fMayor Giuliani at 29 percent and Mr. Bloomberg at 16 percent. The poll found Mr. Bloomberg pulling votes about equally from Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Giuliani.

Asked about the mayor’s decision as she left a Senate hearing Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton offered: “I’m not surprised that anyone would want to leave the Republican Party.”

Independent pollster Scott Rasmussen said a Bloomberg run is increasingly likely and would jolt the 2008 race in a number of directions. He said most polls find Mr. Bloomberg drawing votes away from the Republican candidates but never coming close to winning.

“He could have a significant impact on the campaign,”Mr. Rasmussen said. “Nationally there’s a significant segment of the electorate that would give serious consideration to Bloomberg as a candidate. The biggest unknown is if he would run, but it certainly sounds like he’s making preparations in that direction.”

Another strategist sees it a different way.

“If he runs, this guarantees a Republican will be the next president of the United States. The Democrats have to be shaking in their boots,” said Greg Strimple, a Republican strategist in New York who is unaligned in the race.

In 1992, Perot captured 19 percent of the popular vote as Democrat Bill Clinton seized the presidency from incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush. Independent Ralph Nader played the spoiler in the 2000 race, taking votes from Democrat Al Gore in a disputed election won by President George W. Bush.

Throughout his five and a half years as mayor, Mr. Bloomberg has often been at odds with his party and Mr. Bush. He supports gay marriage, abortion rights, gun control and stem cell research and hiked property taxes to help solve a fiscal crisis after the Sept. 11 attacks.

But he never seemed willing to part with the GOP completely, raising money for the 2004 presidential convention and contributing money to Mr. Bush and other Republican candidates.

Just last year, he told a group of Manhattan Republicans about his run for mayor: “I couldn’t be prouder to run on the Republican ticket and be a Republican.”

Asked on Monday about a hypothetical independent candidate entering the race, Mr. Bloomberg launched a broad critique of the Bush administration and Congress and lamented the presidential debates to date.

“I think the country is in trouble,” Mr. Bloomberg said, citing the war in Iraq and America’s declining standing globally. “We’ve had a go-it-alone mentality in a world where, because of communications and transportation, you should be going exactly in the other direction.”

His entry into the campaign would give the presidential contest a decidedly New York flavor, with Mrs. Clinton on the Democratic side and Mr. Giuliani on the Republican.

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Associated Press writer Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.