Mayor Bloomberg For President?

They're popular in their home jurisdictions, independent-minded and recognizable (not to mention visionary on matters of climate and sustainability). So now that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has officially shed his ties to the Republican Party, could it be that the CEO mayor will run for president? With the Governator at his side? This week, the two leaders appeared side by side in a green-tinted Time magazine cover about their go-it-alone attitude (that is, without the help of a do-nothing federal government) and they appeared side by side at a conference about taking the partisanship out of federal politics. Bloomberg followed up those appearances by officially shedding his Republican party membership, opting instead to be labeled an Independent. Capital I. Each leader has already won praise for environmental policy. Bloomberg is enacting a sweeping and ambitious sustainability plan for the nation's largest city, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been taking on the Bush Administration as he fights to enact California's broad global warming prevention strategy. Schwarzenegger, a Republican in a very blue state, said he loved the idea of a Bloomberg presidential run. Why wouldn't he? They're pals, and Schwarzenegger is barred by the Constitution and his foreign birth from running for president himself. But analysts have pointed out that there's no law against electing a foreign-born vice president, according to a story in the June 20 San Francisco Chronicle.