Is Michael Bloomberg considering Hillary Clinton as running mate?
“We are focused on the primary and the debate, not VP speculation,” said Jason Schechter, Bloomberg’s director of communications for his campaign.
By HANNAH HEPNERDEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL candidate Michael Bloomberg speaks to a crowd in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Wednesday.(photo credit: DOUG STRICKLAND/REUTERS)
Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is considering Hillary Clinton as a running mate, according to the Drudge Report, which cites positive internal polling from the Bloomberg campaign.Drudge also reported that Bloomberg is considering officially changing his residence from New York, where Clinton currently resides, to either Colorado or Florida, where he owns homes. Some interpretations of the Constitution’s 12th Amendment state that presidential and vice presidential candidates cannot reside in the same state, explaining Bloomberg’s need to potentially change his official residence.There has been much speculation over Clinton’s future in American politics after her defeat by Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.“She wants back in,” a source close to Clinton told Fox News.However, earlier this month in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Clinton dismissed rumors of her entering the 2020 campaign.When asked if she’d consider joining the ticket of the Democratic nominee, she replied: “Well, that’s not going to happen – but no, probably no.”She did not, however, dispel the possibility entirely.“I never say never because I believe in serving my country, but it’s never going to happen,” she told DeGeneres.In addition to the speculation over whether this is a real possibility on Clinton’s end, there has also been speculation whether this would be a winning strategy for Bloomberg.Bloomberg has been running his campaign purely on the numbers, evident in his rather nontraditional decision to skip out on the first four state elections – the Iowa caucus, the New Hampshire primary, the Nevada caucus and the South Carolina primary – and instead pouring money into ads for Super Tuesday states. Some 14 states are holding their presidential primaries then, which this year is March 3. Almost a third of the Democrat's pledged delegates will be allotted to candidates on that day.Some, including former Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller, believe that talk about selecting Clinton as a running mate is simply a “smokescreen” to ensure that Bloomberg remains relevant and in the media, reports said. Others believe the idea that he is considering Clinton is being used by his campaign team to cover up attacks on Bloomberg in this week's news cycle for allegedly sexist comments.No matter the purpose behind the coverage of this potential pairing, there is no doubt that adding Clinton to the Bloomberg ticket adds some partisanship to Bloomberg’s campaign, which he has been working hard to sell as moderate, in the hopes of appealing to centrist voters from both parties, Drudge explained.Jason Schechter, Bloomberg’s director of communications for his campaign, refused to comment directly.“We are focused on the primary and the debate, not VP speculation,” he told CNBC.President Donald Trump has also not commented.Natan Rothstein contributed to this report.
