Time Line to the Presidency?
The founders of the Facebook group "Bloomberg in '08" have graciously agreed to let us reproduce and supplement the greattime line they created.
It seems to us that over the past year, our man, Mr. Bloomberg, has been preparing for something big. All the right places, all the right comments. He's getting his name and our/his platform known. And from the flurry of activity over the last two months, we think things are beginning to really heat up. We can't wait for whats next.
We'd also like to give a nod to Azi Paybarah at the Politicker and Liz Benjamin at the Daily Politics for linking to us yesterday.
6/20/07 - MAYOR BLOOMBERG FILES WITH THE NYC BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO LEAVE THE GOP.
6/19/07 - The Mayor and Governor Schwarzenegger featured on the cover of Time Magazine. (Time)
6/18/07 - By this date, the Mayor had visited 12 different cities in the last 18 months, not including Albany and DC. This comes after 0 in 2005, and 2 in 2004 - (NYPost)
6/18/07 - At USC, in reference to resolving a divided government, Mayor Bloomberg stated, "It all begins with Independence...embracing pragmatism over partisanship, ideas over ideology"
6/18/07 - Mayor Bloomberg spoke about national issues at Google's campus and states that the US is "Really in Trouble". This came on the heals of speeches by 4 presidential hopefuls (Edwards, McCain, Clinton and Richardson)
6/15/07 - The press discovers that while in town on 05/11 to give the commencement speech at Oklahoma University, Mayor Bloomberg met for a long, private discussion with University President and former Governor David Boren. "According to New York political sources, they discussed a role Boren might play in an independent Bloomberg campaign for president"
6/14/07 - The Mayor did an interview with BusinessWeek magazine. He was also a featured guest on NBC Nightly News during that week.
5/22/07 - Mayor Bloomberg announced that New York's taxi fleet will be fully hybrid by 2012
5/21/07 - Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city's high school graduation rate had reached a historic high of 60%
5/15/07 - Mayor Bloomberg delivered the keynote address at the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit
5/14/07 - Time Magazine names Bloomberg one of its "100 Most Influential People in the World"
5/14/07 - A poll found New Yorkers favor Bloomberg over Guiliani for 2008
4/24/07 - Mayor Bloomberg and delegation visited Mexico's Oportunidades Program
4/22/07 - Mayor Bloomberg presented PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York
4/16/07 - Fortune Magazine's 6-page cover story featured Mike Bloomberg.
3/30/07 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled his plan to offer cash rewards to the poor for good behavior.
2/13/07 – Under Mayor Bloomberg’s plan, New York City handed out New York City Subway themed condoms for disease prevention
2/13/07 – Mayor Michael Bloomberg writes an open letter urging the lessoning of regulation to release the some of the burden on US companies
1/25/07 – Mayor Michael Bloomberg raised $50 Million for Sept. 11th memorial
1/7/07 – Mayor Michael Bloomberg took charge of New York City schools
12/1/06 - Former NYC Council woman Margarita Lopez, describing Michael Bloomberg's social attitudes declared, "I make him an honorary lesbian today."
11/17/06 – Mayor Bloomberg "urged anyone contemplating a White House run to go for it"
8/22/06 – Rollingstone Magazine published an article detailing a possible Bloomberg run for President, stating that "Bloomberg might prove to be a more competent and saner version of Ross Perot"
8/16/06 – Bloomberg pledged $125 Million of his own money for an anti-smoking campaign.
3/29/06 – Mayor Michael Bloomberg tells a Congressional panel considering a gun bill that the "god-awful piece of legislation" before the House of Representatives would cripple the city's ability to combat gun trafficking and "result in the shooting deaths of innocent people."
2/3/06 – Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $100 Million for stem cell research at Johns Hopkins. The University President declared, "I had something between a heart attack and a stroke when I heard the amount," Brody said. "It is something every college president would die for.""
1/2/06 – Mayor Michael Bloomberg took the oath of office for his second term as Mayor of New York vowing to "govern our city without partisanship or prejudice".