Mayor Bloomberg is tamping down speculation that he might be chosen to lead the nation’s Treasury Department.

“It’s not a job that I would be considered for, and I honestly don’t think I’m suited to do that,” Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday at a press conference in Midtown. The mayor added that his expertise is in “more hands-on kind of management.”

Mr. Bloomberg praised the current secretary of the treasury, Henry Paulson, as well as several of the most recent heads of the department, including John Snow and Paul O’Neill under President Bush and Robert Rubin under President Clinton, and suggested they be considered to fill the post instead.

The mayor also has been discussed as a possible running mate for either party, but in comments this week Senator McCain appeared to downplay the mayor’s chances of joining the Republican ticket. In an interview with the Weekly Standard magazine on Wednesday, Mr. McCain said that although he would consider a pro-choice vice president, such as a former Pennsylvania governor, Tom Ridge, Mr. Bloomberg’s support for gay rights might be beyond the pale.

“I think it’s a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life, but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice,” Mr. McCain said in the interview. “We just have a — albeit strong — but just it’s a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that. Far more so than Bloomberg, because Bloomberg is pro-gay rights.”

Mr. Bloomberg responded yesterday with an impassioned defense of his position on the two issues.

“I think that choice and gay rights are fundamental issues left to individuals,” he said. “I never thought the government should be involved in even discussing them. They are personal things, and if you really believe in the Constitution of this country, if you really are — particularly, I think if you are a conservative — you should say government should get out of the bedroom.”

Despite his disagreement with Mr. McCain, the mayor said the senator’s comments did not diminish the presumptive Republican nominee’s chances of receiving his endorsement before the November election. The mayor has yet to declare his support for any presidential candidate.

Mr. Bloomberg said he is not going to be the choice of “any of the three candidates for president as their vice president,” including independent candidate Ralph Nader. “I understand that and that’s fine,” he said.