Bloomberg: I can't win White House

'What I'd like to do is to be able to influence the dialogue'

Lucas Jackson / Reuters file	Despite recently changing his party affiliation from Republican to Independent, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg repeated he is not seeking the presidency in 2008.

Slide show

The Week in Political Cartoons
Msnbc.com political cartoonists take a look at the past week

more photos

Fight! For your right! To...

Biden points to Obama's 'steady hands'

First thoughts: Obama expands his lead

updated 8:36 a.m. ET Aug. 21, 2007

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg said — again — that he's not running for president, adding in a television interview that he wouldn't win anyway.

"Nobody's going to elect me president of the United States," he told Dan Rather for a program that will air Tuesday on cable's HDNet channel. "What I'd like to do is to be able to influence the dialogue. I'm a citizen."

The billionaire left the Republican Party recently to become an independent, throwing into overdrive the speculation that he will make a run for the White House.

Story continues below ↓

Bloomberg likes to throw water on the rumors while simultaneously keeping them alive behind the scenes. His aides are not bashful about promoting the idea that he could jump into the race next year as a self-financed independent candidate.

Bloomberg told Rather he has no interest in higher office and owes the next two and a half years of his final term to the people of New York.

"My job is to represent them and put that ahead of any of my own personal aspirations," he said.

  Picking the president — the candidates
Click a name below to visit that candidate’s MSNBC page
• Joe Biden                • Sam Brownback     • Hillary Clinton          • Chris Dodd
• John Edwards         • Rudy Giuliani           • Mike Gravel              • Duncan Hunter
• Mike Huckabee        • Dennis Kucinich     • John McCain           • Barack Obama
• Ron Paul                    • Bill Richardson      • Mitt Romney            • Tom Tancredo
• Fred Thompson
To subscribe to a candidate page RSS feed, click here.