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Remember when we used to think Bloomberg’s deputy mayor Kevin Sheekey was a tightlipped strategist who stayed mostly behind the scenes? Yeah, those days are clearly over, because lately Sheekey just can’t shut up about the mayor’s political ambitions. Just days after a massive Newsweek story hit stands featuring Sheekey’s detailed plans for a presidential run by his boss, the Post reports that the political guru has also been secretly talking to state Republican strategists about rallying a Bloomberg run for governor in 2010. The story was written by Postie Frederic Dicker, who seems a little fixated on the idea but makes a good point. There are a couple of reasons why this works: One, on the off chance Bloomberg does run for president and loses, he’ll have a much higher profile after 2008 and still have time to make a go at Albany. And two, a recent poll asking voters whom they would vote for in a run between Spitzer and Bloomberg put him well ahead of the current governor, 50 to 37 percent. So is all this talk about a presidential run just a smokescreen for his real gubernatorial ambitions? Is it just an attempt to solidify his broad political appeal and influence? Could all this is-he-or-isn’t-he messing with our head be part of a larger strategy to, well, mess with our heads even more? Wow. If it is, that would be totally awesome. That’s probably exactly the kind of mind-fucking Albany needs.
Mike Secret Bid to Run vs. Spitzer [NYP]
Update: At a press conference today, when asked about the Post story, Bloomberg had this to say: “You can tell the governor he does not have to worry about me running. It is totally fictitious, I have absolutely no idea where it comes from. I’ve got the greatest job in the world and I want to finish it… I categorically will not run for governor.” Fredric Dicker: the boy who cried governor.
