The Draft Bloomberg movement is a political draft movement in the

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that launched in 2007 as an effort to convince

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Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

to run for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

as an

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candidate in the 2008 election.Molla, Rani (Jan 14, 2008
"Draft Bloomberg Movement Launched"
''

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''. Retrieved 2010-05-01. The movement ended for that election cycle on February 28, 2008, when Bloomberg formally announced that he would not run for president. The movement relaunched in late 2010 as an effort to persuade Bloomberg to make a presidential bid and/or lead in the formation of a viable

third party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

.Saul, Michael Howard (Oct 14, 2010
"Bloomberg Supporters Plot Draft"
''

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''. Retrieved Oct 14, 2010.(Oct 13, 2010
"Green Party Candidates Race to Join the Committee to Draft Michael Bloomberg Press Conference This Thursday"

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. Retrieved Oct 18, 2010. Eight years later, he eventually entered the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and lost, after winning only the territory of

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, while missing the 15% threshold for proportional delegates in several states.

Support from Independent Greens of Virginia

In January 2008, the Independent Greens of Virginia launched the first state petition drive in the nation to put Michael Bloomberg on the ballot for president. The party collected and submitted more than the minimum number of required petition signatures with Bloomberg's name to the Virginia State Board of Elections, prior to the Board's deadline, to put the party on the ballot for president in Virginia. Despite these efforts, Bloomberg did not appear on the Virginia ballot in the 2008 election as a presidential candidate because, one day prior to the State's deadline for ballot submissions, he requested that the party remove his name.

Unity08 splinter group

There had been speculation of drafting Bloomberg to run as a presidential candidate on the Unity08 ticket. On January 10, 2008, the organization released a statement announcing that two of its co-founders, Doug Bailey and Gerald Rafshoon, were leaving Unity08 and launching a national draft movement to entice Bloomberg to run as an independent candidate.

Support for the movement in 2008

Support for the movement came primarily from independent voters unhappy with the choices the two major parties were offering. Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip ''

Dilbert ''Dilbert'' is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satire, satirical office humor about a White-collar worker, white-collar, micromanagement, micromanaged offic ...

'', and entrepreneur

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American businessman and television personality. He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and co-owner of 2929 Entertain ...

acknowledged the movement on their respective

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

s and made favorable comments regarding a potential Bloomberg presidential campaign. Political consultants Doug Bailey and Gerald Rafshoon quit the Unity08 movement to work to draft Bloomberg.

Relaunch for 2012 election campaign

In October 2010, The Committee to Draft Michael Bloomberg announced it was relaunching the movement in hopes of persuading Bloomberg to lead in bringing together independents, members of the

Independence Party of America Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or Sovereign state, state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is ...

and Greens to form a viable third party. The Draft Bloomberg Committee choose this approach as polls in October 2010 showed 58% of Americans want a third major party, and Bloomberg has stated that he does not intend to seek the presidency in 2012.(Oct 14, 2010
"Bloomberg: I'm Not Running For President"
CBS New York. Retrieved 2010-10-15.

References

External links

DraftMichael.com
official site of the Committee to Draft Michael Bloomberg
RunMikeRun.com
support site for Draft Bloomberg efforts
UniteforMike.com
archived site of Draft Bloomberg 2008 movement {{United States presidential election, 2012

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...