Political Hotsheet
By

Brian Montopoli /

CBS News/ December 8, 2010, 5:28 PM

Michael Bloomberg: I'm Not Running for President. Period.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg - who is often discussed as a potential third party candidate for the presidency in 2012 - told CBS News' Katie Couric Wednesday there is "nothing" that would compel him to enter the coming presidential race.

"I'm not going to run for president, period," he said. "End of story."

Replied Couric: "Ever?"

"I think at my age ever is the easy thing to say," Bloomberg, who is 68, responded with a laugh.

Couric pressed Bloomberg: "Really, so this videotape is not going to come back to haunt you?"

He said it would not.

"I'm not going to run for president," he repeated (Watch the exchange above.)

In a speech Wednesday morning, Bloomberg said both parties have "abdicated their responsibility" in helping the country recover from the recession. He argued they spend "more time and energy conducting partisan warfare than forging centrist solutions to our toughest economic problems."

You can see more of the interview on tonight's CBS "Evening News," and check out the entire conversation here.


Brian Montopoli is senior political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of his posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
5 Comments Add a Comment
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skeezix06 says:
About that comment about getting taxes to get more jobs? That might work real well for China but we had 8 straight years of cutting taxes and people kept losing their jobs at an accelerated speed until we got where we are today. If you want jobs, you have to create demand for goods and services. People without jobs don't buy. That's a very simple fact that the lower levels of income live with on a daily basis.

I see they're running another round of "you aren't saving enough to retire" bashing on CBS news... That's another illusion; that you can save enough to retire on even if your income is middle class. The only way you can save enough to retire on is if you're wealthy. Greed has really screwed up our values.
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paulette531 replies:
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If you really cut back, you can save. Blaming everything on the wealthy is a crock! Good old GREED on everyone's part is active and you cannot deny it...how many TV'S do you have? How many computers do you have? Most Americans have much more than they need. (as do people all over the world)...not just blaming Americans. Cut back and see how much you really need to survive. Needs versus wants...figure it out!
skeezix06 replies:
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Sorry Paulette but reality is that the average John Q Public middle class person will never be able to save enough on their own to retire. Inflation has historically accumulated much faster than savings. A major repair to the house or replace a car or get a serious illness and your savings can be gone in a few days. And if you were foolish enough to invest in the stock market, you won't even have that.

The greed you refer to used to be considered demand for goods and services and used to drive the jobs market; sort of like what used to be manners is now referred to as political correctness thanks to the GOP.

The greed I referred to is the greed (and short sightedness) that corporations display when they ship the jobs overseas and kill their consumer class here.
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RobAla says:
Good. Let New York keep him.
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paulette531 says:
Good...he's a dip stick anyway!
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