Jesse Ventura may again climb into the political ring

Jesse Ventura, the former pro wrestler and sometime-actor who improbably won the governorship of Minnesota a decade ago, may again roil his state's political waters. Then again, he may not.

Ventura has been hinting for months that he might make an already closely watched Senate race between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken a three-way affair; back in May, he told Larry King on CNN, "I'm weighing it right now."

He's still weighing it as Tuesday's deadline for filing approaches; indeed, he's talking about it more than ever, leading to speculation he'll take the leap.

Our friend Ted Johnson, who writes the "Wilshire & Washington" column for Variety, recently interviewed Ventura and wrote that "he sounded like a candidate, ready to needle his opponents at every turn. He mapped out a renegade campaign strategy in which he would raise money on the Internet yet not spend more than $1 million for his bid."

Johnson quoted Ventura as saying: "I will not spend more than I earn, and that gives me I think a million dollar cap, because the salary for a senator is $170,000" a year.

We were initially confused by Ventura's math, but he's apparently referring to what he would gross over a six-year term.

The buzz surrounding Ventura grew very loud today, following the broadcast on NPR of an interview he gave David Welna Sunday in a parking lot in Minnesota. He again talked as if he had decided to run, and even offered what presumably would be one of his main messages: "All you Minnesotans take a good hard look at all three of us. And you decide: If you were in a dark alley, which one of the three of us would you want with you?"

Ventura quickly clarified that his remarks were hypothetical, and that he'll continue to weigh his options until the filing deadline. "It will come down to whether I want to change my lifestyle and go to that lifestyle or not," he said.

The prospect of another political season enlivened by a Ventura candidacy geneerated much comment, including this post on The Swamp.

As we recently noted, current polling indicates Franken -- of "Saturday Night Live" fame -- would fall short in his bid to unseat Coleman. Who knows how Ventura would scramble the dynamics; his political persona is so idiosyncratic it seems, at first blush, hard to predict.

And this might be even harder to divine -- were he to run and win, would he bother to caucus with either party on Capitol Hill?

-- Don Frederick

Bob Barr brings his cause to the American public

Libertarian Party presidential nominee Bob Barr is making the rounds of the Sunday talk shows (last week it was "Fox News Sunday"; today it was ABC's "This Week"), hoping his anti-big-government message will resonate with voters fed up with what he calls "the nanny state."

And just what is the nanny state?  "It is a federal government that has become so big that it has stifled individual liberty and freedom in this country," he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.  "And Americans realize that."

Barr, who was elected to Congress in the "Republican Revolution" of 1994, came to national prominence 10 years ago ...

Wesley Clark targets John McCain, then takes return fire

Some Democrats have been known to complain that the party's last two vice presidential nominees -- Joe Lieberman in 2000 and John Edwards in 2004 -- shied away from the "attack dog" role often assumed by the politician holding down the second spot on a party's national ticket.

If Barack Obama is looking for combativeness in his pick, retired Gen. Wesley Clark signaled today that he's up to the task. Then again, Clark may have pursued a critique of John McCain that Obama and his aides would just as soon stay away from.

Appearing on the CBS chat show "Face the Nation," Clark -- who has rated prominent mention as a veep prospect both because he was a strong Hillary Clinton supporter and his credentials on the national security front -- backed off not one bit from his previous characterization of McCain as "untested and untried" as an executive leader.

Pressed on that quote by moderator Bob Schieffer, Clark said that "in the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk, it's a matter of gauging your opponents and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. ... He hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded wasn't a wartime squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. ..."

Pressed further by Schieffer, Clark then delivered perhaps the day's marquee quote:

"I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."

The McCain campaign responded quickly, teeing up Clark as a surrogate for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and blasting away:

"If Barack Obama's campaign wants to question John McCain's military service, that's their right. But let's please drop the pretense that Barack Obama stands for a new type of politics. The reality is he's proving to be a typical politician who is willing to say anything to get elected, including allowing his campaign surrogates to demean and attack John McCain's military service record."

For a wrapup of some of the other back-and-forth on the Sunday shows -- including independent White House contender Ralph Nader pressing the assault he unleashed last week on Obama -- see this posting on the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog.

And The Times' Evan Halper recounts the needling California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took from NBC's Tom Brokaw during a "Meet the Press'" appearance. As Halper notes in his story, Schwarzenegger generally gets fawned over by the national media, but that wasn't the case in this encounter.

-- Don Frederick

Ralph Nader adds fuel to his spat with Barack Obama

Ralph Nader isn't backing down.

Gee, what a surprise.

Controversial comments he made about Barack Obama in a newspaper interview garnered more coverage for him today than his little-noticed presidential campaign has received all year, including extended discussions on various cable news shows.

It also prompted Obama, when asked about the matter at a news conference, to dispute Nader's contention that he has been ignoring a range of issues.

Tonight, Nader responded with a statement that begins:

"Sen. Obama said earlier today that I haven't been paying attention to his campaign.

"Actually, I have.

"And it's clear from Sen. Obama's campaign that he is not willing to tackle the white power structure -- whether in the form of the corporate power structure or many of the super-rich -- who are taking advantage of 100 million low-income Americans who are suffering in poverty or near poverty."

The rest of the statement can be read here.

--Don Frederick

Ralph Nader talks trash about Barack Obama

Ralph Nader irrevocably earned a spot on Democratic "don't invite him" lists when, in the view of virtually everyone except himself, his 2000 presidential bid cost Al Gore the White House and delivered it to George Bush.

Nader will go to his grave scoffing at such complaints; whenever asked, he insists that Gore has no one but himself to blame for the loss and presses his case that there's virtually no difference between the two major parties because both are beholden to corporate interests.

He's running for the umpteenth time again and, as he made clear in an interview this week with Denver's Rocky Mountain News, there's little worthwhile he sees in the latest Democratic pick for president.

Summarizing the interview, reporter M.E. Sprengelmeyer writes that Nader accused Barack Obama of "downplaying poverty issues, trying to 'talk white' and appealing to 'white guilt' during his run for the White House."

The "talk white" and "white guilt" comments, of course, ensure Nader a burst of attention that his latest candidacy has been lacking up to now.

Here's one of the Nader quotes from the article:

There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American. Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards.

The full story and a video of the interview can be perused here.

Appearing on MSNBC a few minutes ago, Obama aide Robert Gibbs called Nader's comments "reprehensible and basically delusional."

They also are an interesting contrast to remarks Nader made about Ron Paul when pitching himself to Paul's supporters earlier this month.

[UPDATE: At an afternoon news conference in Chicago, Obama was asked about Nader's remarks and he responded cooly and without anger. "What's clear is that Ralph Nader hasn't been paying attention to my speeches" because, he said, he frequently has addressed the issues Nader charged he had been ignoring. He dismissed the inflammatory language Nader used as a bid to try to get attention for a candidacy that has been mostly under the radar. "It's a shame," he said, given Nader's "extraordinary" legacy as a crusader for consumer causes.]

[UPDATE II: In a stroke of good timing, the Washington Post today published this lengthy feature piece that covers his struggles to stir up interest in his campaign, the grief he still takes about the 2000 election and, in general, where he's coming from.)

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Associated Press

L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll results released later today

A recent Newsweek poll, showing Barack Obama with a 15-percentage-point lead over John McCain, left many of the folks closely watching the presidential race scratching their heads.

With other polls showing a closer race, did the Newsweek survey accurately detect a somewhat delayed Obama "bounce" following the official end of Hillary Clinton's campaign? Or did the magazine get it wrong?

A just-completed L.A. Times/Bloomberg national poll may help clarify the confusion. We cannot reveal the precise figures quite yet; for the results, check LATimes.com about 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT) today.

The survey not only asked registered voters their preferences in the head-to-head race between McCain and Obama but, in a second question, specifically included Ralph Nader and Bob Barr as choices to try to determine how their presidential candidacies might affect November's main event.

The poll also gauged voter attitudes toward Obama and McCain on a raft of issues and characteristics, including which has the right experience to be president and which has more honesty and integrity. And one of the poll's most dramatic findings concerned differing enthusiasm levels among their backers.

-- Don Frederick

Ron Paul fans, Ralph Nader wants your attention

Ron Paul backers, do not despair. You have a new suitor: Ralph Nader.

In the wake of the decision by the 72-year-old Paul to, via his website, officially declare an end to his presidential quest, the 74-year-old Nader showed a political agility that has not always marked his many, many runs for the White House. Today, he released the following statement:

"Ron Paul was a lightning rod for millions of Americans against the war in Iraq and for the protection of personal liberties that the two major parties have turned their back on -- by continuing to support the illegal criminal war and the PATRIOT Act.

"Now that Dr. Paul has formally withdrawn his candidacy for the G.O.P. nomination and is no longer seeking the Presidency, there is a clear choice for those who want to support a candidate who will stand up against the war and stand up for personal liberties and privacy that have been trampled by the notorious, misnamed, PATRIOT Act.

"The people want the next President to immediately withdraw our soldiers and corporate mercenaries from Iraq in the safest manner possible.

"I would veto any attempt to extend the so-called PATRIOT Act or anything else that came across my desk that was designed to circumvent the civil liberties of the American People.

The PATRIOT Act grants excessive power to the government to abuse civil liberties through wiretaps, monitoring internet usage, authorized 'sneak and peek' of our homes, and forces libraries to turn over records of the books read by their patrons -- and those abuses of power have been used repeatedly by Bush and his Justice Department.

We need more politicians, like Dr. Paul, who are not afraid to stand up for our civil liberties."

Nader isn't quite as assertive on another of Paul's prime issues, the Federal Reserve Board.

Paul, much to the delight of many of his supporters, has pushed for wiping the board off the face of the earth; Nader's focus has been on prodding it to do its job with greater vigilance and more openly.

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Nick Wass / Associated Press

Top of the Ticket, the start of Year Two

On this, the first anniversary of our Top of the Ticket blog, we are reminded of the mercurial, unpredictable nature of U.S. politics -- part of what makes what we do so fascinating.

Our goal -- one of us on the East Coast and the other on the far more important or at least less humid West Coast -- was to write about Campaign '08 virtually around the clock.

Our second-ever posting, 12 months ago today, previewed an upcoming L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll; later in the day, we detailed the results of the nationwide survey. The findings were in line with other polls of the time.

In the Republican presidential race, which then seemed the most likely to last deep into the primary season, Rudy Giuliani was perched in first place. His lead wasn't overwhelming, but it was strong enough that he appeared certain to remain a major contender.

His liberal record on social issues loomed as an obvious liability within his party, but his tough-on-terrorism message was attracting substantial support from moderates and GOP-leaning independents.

His major headache among rivals last June was an as-yet-undeclared candidate who was riding a wave as the great conservative hope -- Fred Thompson. He ran a strong second in the poll.

Lagging far behind were John McCain and Mitt Romney, each barely with double-digit support. In our preview posting, we were especially scornful of McCain, noting sarcastically (and foolishly, as it turned out) that in the poll, he found himself "in heated competition with the 'Don't Know' category."

Meriting no mention from us was Mike Huckabee, one of several back-of-the-pack candidates barely earning any support across the country.

The Democratic race, at that point, seemed so much more cut-and-dried.

Hillary Clinton was the clear front-runner; Barack Obama was just as clearly ...

Ralph Nader seeks qualified spokespersons ready for certain defeat

How would you like to head up the public communications effort for a surefire losing presidential candidacy? You would know in advance from now through Nov. 4 that nothing you did or said would change the outcome for your candidate. You might get to travel a little. Wouldn't have to worry about getting a large salary.

And, who knows, you could play a key role in siphoning off enough angry Democratic votes to help elect another Republican president.

What's more your boss has never shown any reluctance to speak for himself.

Ralph Nader's latest presidential campaign is looking for two top media people. Experience necessary. It's posted an erudite and well-educated want ad on the Poynter.org website appealing to the idealism of potential job applicants.

It says the Nader "presidential campaign for a progressive, majoritarian redirection of our country is seeking experienced media persons to conduct outreach and receive press inquiries.

"You can bring your conscience to work daily, commit truth, and engage the great issues of our times.

"Writing and reportorial experience are needed, unless you are a sui generis talented and motivated dynamo in these tumultuous arenas of newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the blogs.

"Applications are invited, together with references, writing samples and other magnetic material that you believe commend you for these tasks.

"Savor the experience, make a consequential contribution to public dialogue, public education and the substantive quality of this presidential year, whose major party candidates are so besieged thus far with trivia and distractions."

Also the applicants should be prepared to answer the inevitable media question: whether Nader prefers boxers or briefs.

--Andrew Malcolm

                                                                             Photo Credit: AP

Leave Ralph Nader Alone

Fridays have many good qualities. Normal people with normal jobs get to look forward to two days off. Payday for a lot of folks. Happy hour. Remember, the phrase is NOT "Thank God It's Tuesday." But it's also the day that Joshua Levy over at techPresident posts his favorite YouTube videos of the week.

Which means you get to save a lot of surfing time during the week looking at political videos and let Levy do the heavy lifting for you. Our fave from today's list: Leave Ralph Nader Alone, (see below) which is fascinating in a "the metal-punk band just moved in next door" kind of way. And it also reminds us of this classic ad.

-- Scott Martelle

John McCain makes gas prices a political issue

John McCain took a look at the price on the neighborhood gas pump (OK, somebody probably looked for him) and decided a little relief is in order -- so he's introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate that would suspend the federal gas tax for the summer. This is no small thing -- 18.4 cents per gallon for the unleaded most people use, and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel, on which the nation's trucking industry runs (think strawberry prices). The potential consumer savings are huge -- assuming they'd get passed along.

Of course, in the Democratic-controlled Senate the chances of the bill getting through in an election year are slight -- about the same, we'd guess, as the chances of gas falling below $3 a gallon. But this is where it gets fun. Come fall, McCain will be able to say that he tried to do something and the Democrats wouldn't cooperate. He even sent a letter to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- his colleagues in the Senate before they were his rivals for the White House -- asking them to join him.

Shrewd move, that. Lovely placing of the piece on the chess board while Obama and Clinton are still squabbling over who gets to play their side of the board. And the counter-move, if there is one, will likely be pressing McCain on the financing. McCain says he'll replace the lost revenue to the Highway Trust Fund from the general fund -- which is already facing a massive budget gap.

A footnote of interest: One of the cosponsors of McCain's bill is Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee and former Democrat. Technically, he's an independent senator from Connecticut now but is usually included in the vote count that determines the Democrats control the Senate. He endorsed McCain in December, so that bridge is already burned. But it has to be galling to some in the halls of Congress to have their former veep nominee -- Al Gore's running mate -- stumping for the other guy.

-- Scott Martelle

Ralph Nader's ode to Hillary Clinton

Another precinct heard from: Now it’s Ralph Nader who’s weighing in on the never-ending campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

While Nader himself is running again for president, he appears to see a kindred spirit in Hillary Clinton. The longtime activist -– who knows a thing or two about running for office when others wish he would withdraw –- is urging Clinton to stay in the race. For as long as she wishes.

Perhaps most interestingly, he’s doing it in the form, unusual in American political communication, of free verse.

He’s calling ...

One more time for Ralph Nader...

In perhaps the least surprising announcement of the 2008 campaign season, Ralph Nader told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning that he’s launching a campaign for president -- his fifth quest for the White House in as many presidential elections.

His statement came as a shock to no one: He hinted in early January, and implied in late January, that he would run.

(UPDATE: An update on reactions from around the political spectrum appears below.)

In 2004, campaigning as an independent, the longtime consumer activist got 465,650 votes (out of a total of more than 122 million). Four years before that, as the candidate of the Green Party, he was more successful, capturing 2.8 million of the 105 million votes cast. (He also ran a limited campaign as the Greens' candidate in 1996 and as a write-in candidate in 1992.)

His 2000 campaign earned him the ire of many Democrats, who...

Edwards and Nader: One out, one in?

John Edwards is apparently calling it quits. And it looks like Ralph Nader -- "Darth Nader" to Democrats who can't forget the 2000 showdown -- is thinking about joining the campaign circus. Again.

First, Edwards. If he does follow through with the reported planned announcement in New Orleans later today, the timing is curious. Edwards' 2008 campaign never really caught on, in large part because he couldn't get enough air to breath in a room in which Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sucked up nearly all the oxygen. And he was further confounded by Obama's policies, which occupied much of the same populist ground that Edwards was standing on.

But why drop out now? Edwards' last loss was Saturday in South Carolina. His showing in Florida on Tuesday was irrelevant. And with Feb. 5 just around the corner, he might have been able to grab enough delegates to act as a drag on both of the other candidates.

Unless the one-time trial lawyer is planning to throw his lot in with Obama in an effort to stop Clinton's march to the nomination. Or, conversely -- and harder to imagine -- join up with Clinton to seal it for the New York senator.

As for Nader, the legendary consumer advocate ...

                                                                                              (Photo credit: Edward Gombert/EPA)

Draft Lou Dobbs effort begun

A group dedicated to fighting illegal immigration today launched an Internet effort to cajole one of the most vocal and well-known advocates of that cause -- CNN's Lou Dobbs -- into the presidential race as an independent.

The website (found here) was set up by the Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), headed by North Carolina resident William Gheen. He was prominently featured in a recent Wall Street Journal article that summed up speculation about a Dobbs run -- and served to add fuel to such talk.

The 62-year-old Dobbs, who over the years evolved from a fairly traditional financial correspondent for CNN to a full-throated advocate of economic populism, told the Journal he wasn't planning on a White House bid, saying he did not have either "the personality or nature to be a politician."

But then, in the best tradition of politics, he left the door open ...

 

Not enough unity to go around

DETROIT -- Unity '08, which began last year as an attempt to bridge the left-right political divide and draft consensus candidates for an independent presidential campaign, has all but pulled the plug on itself. The reason: Key players have left, support flagged, Federal Election Commission regulations hobbled fundraising, access to state ballots proved difficult, and everybody, it seems, wants to heal the same divide.

Obviously, this unity stuff ain't easy.

The whole explainer is here, but some details bear highlighting:

"Barack Obama, for example, has made the theme of unity and the necessity of bridging the partisan divide an absolutely central theme of his campaign. And just last week, a group of former and present national office holders -- independents, Republicans and Democrats -- met in Oklahoma for the sole purpose of stating their belief that at the present perilous moment, a unity government is the only hope of solving the nation's mounting problems. When you find agreement between the likes of former RNC chairman Bill Brock and Gary Hart, you're onto something....

"Waiting in the wings, should the divide persist, is the potential of a serious non-partisan candidacy by Mike Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York (two of our founders, Doug Bailey and Gerald Rafshoon, have stepped down from the board and may have more to say about their plans in the near future)."

Bailey is a longtime Republican strategist and Rafshoon was President Jimmy Carter's White House comunications director, and it will be interesting to see whether they pop up as advisors to Bloomberg.

-- Scott Martelle

Mike Bloomberg Watch: Hmm, hints it's on again

The off-again-maybe-on-again-maybe-I'm-not-saying-today possible, maybe presidential candidacy of New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg took on some more credibility during the night.

Associates of the mayor told the Associated Press that Bloomberg, a billionaire several times over, has begun an expensive cross-country detailed polling and sophisticated voter analysis in all 50 states as part of his careful, not-so-secret consideration of a White House bid, presumably as an independent.

"They want a hard-headed sense of their chances," Doug Schoen told the AP. He was in charge of Bloomberg's voter database efforts, or microtargeting, for his two campaigns for mayor.

A Bloomberg spokesman declined to comment, which, of course, only heightens the New York media interest in the potential candidacy.

As if two New Yorkers running to run the country wasn't enough.

--Andrew Malcolm

Ralph Nader again, now that name rings a bell

Happy New Year!

Speaking of party time, former and possibly future presidential candidate Ralph Nader rang in the new year by sending an angry e-mail to reporters. Isn't that what everyone does to start a new 12-month cycle?

Nader was blasting (Nader and blasting seem to go together, don't they?) Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton over her fundraising. Then, Nader said in a follow-up interview that he might run for president again in 2008.

Nader’s e-mail, co-signed by Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and former San Francisco supervisor Matt Gonzalez, says: "Do you really believe if we replace a bunch of corporate Republicans with a bunch of corporate Democrats that anything meaningful is going to change? This has to stop. It's that simple."

Reached on the phone later by The Times' Dan Morain, Nader lauded (Nader lauding?) John Edwards for his presidential campaign, saying the former senator is using the opportunity to talk tough about corporate abuses. But Nader also left open the possibility that he would run again himself, saying he would be making the decision in about a month. Possibly good New Year's news for beleaguered Republicans.

Nader angered many Democrats by mounting a Green Party candidacy in 2000, siphoning votes from Al Gore and helping to create the eight-year George W. Bush presidency.

“Hillary Clinton is an unacceptable candidate to large numbers of independents, Democrats and third party members,” the Nader e-mail said. “ … If Hillary Clinton prevails, millions of Americans will look elsewhere for change, or stay home.

“It's that simple,” the missive said.

Then, it ended with, “Happy New Year.”

--Andrew Malcolm

Mike Bloomberg Watch: Now he's meeting with Obama

You know the New Yorker who's mixed up in all that presidential talk?

Not the Democratic one who always cheered for the Cubs before she always cheered for the Yankees. And not the Republican one who always cheers for the Yankees unless they lose in the playoffs when he always cheers for any other American League team still playing.

No, not that pair. But the New Yorker who used to be both a Democrat and then a Republican, now calls himself an independent and has enough money to buy his own baseball league. Mike Bloomberg, the current mayor. He's the one who keeps saying he has no intention of running for president and then goes on to talk about what kind of president America needs and the terrible gridlock he sees in Washington but not in New York where he often takes the subway, which he could also buy his own of.

Let's be honest. The businessman loves to be seen toying with the idea of an independent run for the White House. He knows how to play the media: the more he denies interest, the more they ask him about it in case there's a nuanced change. It's their job to look for a story. And Mike is just playing and holding the spotlight while he does.

Still, an independent candidacy would save all the expense and hassle and talk of....

Pretend you're working and play with this

A friend sent along this link that's been so much fun to toy with that productivity has lagged a bit (unless, of course, you're a supervising editor reading this, in which case we spent only two minutes and 11 seconds on the site. During lunch. While writing another blog item with the left hand).

The premise is you answer "yes," "no" or "unsure" on 23 questions, rank the individual question's importance to you -- low, medium or high -- and the tabulator tells you which presidential candidate is the best match.  Kind of like eHarmony for uncertain voters.

If you leave the intensity setting at "medium" and click "yes" for all the issues -- from supporting gay marriage to supporting the Iraq war and school vouchers -- your candidate is Rudy Giuliani.  If you click  "no" for all the issues, you get Ron Paul.  If you click "unsure," Joe Biden's your best bet.

This is where it gets fun.  Just start clicking willy-nilly.  We alternated "yes" and "no" down the list and got businessman John Cox.  Who, you say?  Then we reversed, "no" and "yes" down the list and got Mike Gravel.  If the only issue you're sure of -- and you rate it high -- is drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, then Sam Brownback's your man.

Go ahead.  Play with it.  We'll watch for the hall monitor.

-- Scott Martelle

N.Y. mayor says, again, he's not running for president

Once again, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg says he is not running for president. Still. He says on his own website that he was asked about it again in Washington recently. He doesn't say who asked him again, but it must have been someone who hasn't read or heard the mayor's last 20 coy denials.

So now as long as he says someone brought it up again, Bloomberg proceeds to discuss the issue again. He says, 'Are you running?' is the wrong question, even though you have to run before you get elected. And he says the question is not who is the best candidate either, even though that's supposed to be what this confounded party primary-caucus business is all about. He says the real question is who will be the best president? That makes sense.

Then the former Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent proceeds to write a short essay that sounds suspiciously like a mini-stump speech of the sort we're all hearing a lot of these days if we're listening yet. "The country," he says, "faces very real and very big challenges: creating growth in a global economy, fighting terrorism, meeting our energy needs, tackling global warming, and reforming public education."

Bloomberg, the non-candidate, says, "We need solutions that are innovative and bold, not superficial half-steps that are driven by politics, partisanship, or special interest campaign contributions." Hard to argue with that, right? He says we need "real solutions."

"For too long," the billionaire adds, "the American people have been served up empty promises based on what politicians think we want to hear. It's time for something real." Wait a minute. Isn't he the real mayor? Wasn't he selected in a real election? Doesn't that make him a real politician? One of Them.

So how does he get to claim to be one of us non-politicians who are being fed blather? Is this something he thinks we want to hear?

"Real solutions" is what "this upcoming campaign needs to be about," Bloomberg writes. "And these," he promises, "are the issues and challenges I will continue to address."

Whether he's asked or not, apparently.

--Andrew Malcolm

Oops, green Bloomie gets caught in an SUV

Well, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's cover is blown.

Starting with his first mayoral campaign, Bloomberg has struck a populist tone, urging New Yorkers to take public transit and being seen to do so himself, so much so that Newsday dubbed him "regular Joe Commuter." Subway stories are a staple of his standard speech fare.

Unfortunately for that image, New York Times reporters staked out the mayor's home on Manhattan's Upper East Side for five weeks recently. The resulting story reported that the mayor was picked up every morning by two gas-guzzling police Chevy Suburbans. Most days they drove him all the way downtown to his office at City Hall.

About twice a week before driving all the way downtown to City Hall anyway, the Suburbans drive 22 blocks past two local subway stops to an express line station at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, where they drop the billionaire off for the straight shot down to City Hall.

The closest subway stop to the mayor's home is about a five-minute walk.

A mayoral spokesman said the mayor stopped walking there when he attracted hordes of cameras and photographers. Informed that Times reporters had never seen any photographers lurking near the mayor's home, the spokesman said, "So you're saying the solution worked."

Of course, when Bloomberg gets to the White House after the independent campaign he says he has no plans to run, he'll be able to commute by simply walking down some thickly-carpeted stairs.

--Andrew Malcolm

Mayor Mike denies it again

Hmmm, it's probably just a coincidence, one of those flukey chance things that just seems to happen and then bored journalists on a slow summer day make way too much of it.

But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the current billionaire and former Democrat who became a Republican and then last spring declared himself an independent with no interest in running for president, is buying up all kinds of website names. Websites with names like mike2008.com. Or mbloomberg.com. Or michaelbloomberg.com.

At the same time, Bloomberg has stepped up his travels around the country. He told "Good Morning America" this week it's "just an accident" that his speeches take him to "big states" like Missouri, where he addressed the National Urban League along with several presidential candidates.

"I've got a job and it's a great job, and I'm going to finish this job," said the mayor, whose term runs through 2009, adding...

Another presidential waffler, plus Ron Paul

Last winter, Chuck Hagel said he'd decide on his political future in the next couple of months. For the Nebraska senator, time must have stood still.

On Sunday's "Meet the Press," Hagel was asked about his plans today. "Well," he told David Gregory, "I'll make that decision in the next couple of months." (For video, go here. For a transcript, go here.) "I've got to decide whether I want to ask the people of Nebraska to consider giving me a third term in the Senate. I also have said, and I said this when I first ran for the Senate, after I got elected in 1996, that 12 years, two terms, may be enough, and that's another option."

Hagel, an ardent critic of the Iraq war who's rumored to have discussed an independent White House run with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, added, "And then if there might be a place for me along the presidential road somewhere to try to have some influence and change the course of this country, then I'll look at that. But that decision needs to be made soon, and I'll make it soon."

Hagel seemed somewhat more certain about staying a Republican. "Well, I have no intention of changing parties, and that doesn't mean, by the way, that I don't think an independent does not have ...

So what will Mariska Hargitay run for?

There must be something in the coffee on the set of "Law & Order."

As Fred Thompson prepares to leave his acting career behind for a presidential run, one of his castmates on NBC's long-running show, Sam Waterson, continues to carve out a public affairs niche of his own.

Waterson, who for years has played an assistant D.A. --- most recently working under Thompson's character --- on "Law and Order," has emerged as the chief spokesman for "Unity '08." That's the effort begun last year by several veteran politicos to cobble together a centrist alternative to the two major parties. Waterson has appeared on cable news shows to tout the cause and, in April, gave a speech about it at the National Press Building, just a few blocks away from the White House.

Sunday found him on CBS' "Face the Nation," part of a panel fielding questions from moderator Bob Schieffer that focused on the potential impact to the 2008 race if New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg launches an independent White House bid.

Waterson stayed on message, carefully avoiding an embrace of Bloomberg --- or any other possible third-party candidate --- while pressing the Unity '08 case. Its "basic inspiration," he said, "is the fact that the system itself for choosing our leaders is broken, and everybody knows it."

The process, he argued, pushes candidates to the extremes of the two major parties. And that, he said, creates an opportunity for Bloomberg or others who would cater their pitch to the middle.

Message for Readers

You see the bits of speeches and lengthy debates on TV. But what's it really like behind the scenes of the presidential campaigns?

We're going to find out. Times correspondents travel the country with the candidates all the time. They turn out insightful stories like this one by Maria LaGanga on Bill Richardson or this one by Mark Barabak on Barack Obama or this one by Michael Finnegan on Mitt Romney or this one by Robin Abcarian on Joe Biden.

In the coming weeks and months, Top of the Ticket will be there too, taking you inside the stories on the website and in the newspaper. We're going to interview our correspondents about what life is like on the political trail today. Regular Q and A's. What's a typical day like? How do candidates decide where to go and what to say? What are the candidates like when they're not onstage and the cameras are turned off?

But we want your help. This blog is a two-way street.

What would you like to know about life on the political road these days? Give us your questions in the Comments section below and we'll add them to the list. Then check back in the coming weeks to get your answers.

Thanks.

--Andrew Malcolm

Constitutional chaos!!!

Well, not quite yet. But in the spirit of the fevered speculation spurred by Michael Bloomberg's dance with a possible independent presidential candidacy, let's take the conjecture to the Nth degree, just for the fun of it.

Let's pitch forward to Election Day, 2008, and suppose the multi-billionaire Bloomberg has waged a major bid against Democratic and Republican nominees who appealed to their party bases, but not much else. Let's also suppose that, aided by massive spending on ads and aggressive help from like-thinking California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, he wins the Golden State. Finally --- and we concede we're really stretching here --- let's suppose that thanks to another torrent of ad money and an excruciatingly close three-way fracture in the electorate, Bloomberg squeaks out victories in one of the closely contested big states in the past two election: Ohio or Florida.

That's it; he just carries two states. But here's what that could mean, if the Republican and Democrat roughly split up the rest of the 48: no candidate gets the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim the White House.

We've been here before

Not to be outdone by the buzz surrounding Michael Bloomberg's intentions, Ralph Nader is toying with a presidential run.

Yes, again. And yes, we've gone down this road so often that we'll simply link you to Nader's interview with the Politico's Roger Simon.

The famed consumer advocate does have some sharp words for Hillary Clinton worth noting; he calls her a "political coward." And there's an intriguing tidbit featuring Al Gore.

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Ralph Nader; Credit: Molly Riley/REUTERS

Aha, Bloomberg makes a move

New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a lifelong Democrat who switched to the Republican Party in 2001 to seek the mayoralty, completed a triple play today. He switched again, this time to list himself as an independent.

The 65-year-old billionaire businessman's decision adds to the speculation he may mount an independent presidential candidacy for the 2008 election. As noted by Top of the Ticket last evening, he's been making all kinds of moves that suggest such preparations.

Bloomberg, who is completing a two-day stay in California by speaking this evening in Century City, issued a statement in New York saying he'd filed papers to register as unaffiliated with any party which brings his affiliation "into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city.

"A nonpartisan approach has worked wonders in New York," he added. "We have achieved real progress by overcoming the partisanship that too often puts narrow interests above the common good."

Later, he added, "real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology."

He also said, "My plans for the future haven't changed." But he did not elaborate on what those plans are.

Appearing at the same USC conference today as Bloomberg, Gov. Schwarzenegger echoed the New Yorker's call for a new political approach, which the Californian leader called "post-partisan."

"It is nearly impossible," Schwarzenegger said, "to make progress on these issues when the major parties dig in. How about being realistic and solving the problem?" The Times' Michael Finnegan and Evan Halper have the full story here.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Credit: Reed Saxon/AP

Another non-candidate does all the right things

Over this past weekend New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who surely is not running for president, visited New Hampshire, home of the nation's first presidential primary election. He said it was just a social trip.

Then he flew across the country to California to meet with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom about getting guns off America's urban streets.

Then, like many candidates before him, the Republican mayor went to the Mountain View headquarters of Google to address about 1,000 employees who also recently sat in the cafeteria to hear from someones named Hillary Clinton, John McCain, John Edwards and Bill Richardson. Coincidentally, all four of those speakers are presidential candidates.

According to Bloomberg aides, the mayor was there as part of a speakers series on technology. According to Google officials, the mayor was there as part of a book author speakers series. The billionaire mayor did write a book, "Bloomberg on Bloomberg." But that volume came out in 2001.

The mayor says he can understand any political misunderstanding, but the New Hampshire trip was for his girlfriend's college reunion. Bloomberg has visited 20 U.S. cities in the past 18 months as well as several foreign countries. In 2005, he made no visits to any U.S. city except Albany, the state capital. Last year his trips outside New York jumped to 14 and he's made 12 already in 2007.