A lot of people have talked about what would happen if Bloomberg entered the race, but I think the most significant thing about Bloomberg is the possibility of his creating a European-style election. Here's what I mean:
Suppose Hillary and McCain or Rudy end up winning the nominations. Then Bloomberg gets in. At this point, we will have a scenario in which many conservatives may find themselves unhappy with their options. What is more, the fact that Bloomberg will have "broken the ice" by getting in as a 3rd Party candidate, may mean that a 4th candidate gets more traction than he normally would.
So let's suppose a Pat Buchanan or a Ron Paul enters the race. Now, all of a sudden, the race looks like this:
- R - Rudy or McCain
- D - Hillary
- I - Bloomberg
- I - Ron Paul
... All of a sudden, the old rules are gone. Now, we've got essentially a European-style election where someone sneaks in with 30 percent of the vote, or something. And because Bloomberg can self-fund -- and because the Ron Paul/Pat Buchanan candidate might have more of a base than normal, it becomes a legitimate 5-way race.
(I know there has always been Libertarian or Constitution Party candidates. What I'm talking about is a scenario where these candidates actually have the money to get their message out...)
A lot of people have speculated about a 3rd Party -- but how about the real proposition having 4 or 5 candidates ...