Run, Bloomberg, Run!

John McCain seems to be well on his way to capturing the republican nominee after his string of victory's and especially his latest in Floriday. Rudy Giuliani has dropped out of the campaign and thrown his support behind McCain and a litany of other endorsements are streaming in for the senior Senator from Arizona. Most interesting among these endorsements, as this blog is concerned, is that of California Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggar, who is very close with Michael Bloomberg. This endorsement seems to signal that the likelihood of Bloomberg entering the race is now very small.

A couple of factors have come into play. First, the electorate across the nation seems quite satisfied with the slate of candidates that the two parties have put up for nomination. There simply has not been the clamoring for a third party run that may have been expected given the dismal approval ratings of the Republican White House and the Democratic Congress. Second, McCain is a legitimate centrist candidate that will appeal to much of the same constituency that would have supported a legitimate independent candidate such as Bloomberg. The Republicans generally rally around a strong conservative but this time it looks like the nomination will go to a candidate who the Republican establishment is a little bit afraid of.

On the Democratic side, Barack Obama could still capture the nomination which would take out the major polarizing figure left, Hillary Clinton, out of the picture entirely. Obama-Mccain matchup would not be one that Michael Bloomberg could emerge from.