June 21, 2007
If Unity'08 Builds It, Will Bloomberg Come?
A few hours after Mike Bloomberg announced he was leaving the GOP, a little-known Website was so overwhelmed with traffic that it crashed. Unity '08, a grassroots campaign to elect a bipartisan presidential ticket next year, is suddenly attracting a lot of attention.
Unity '08 is the brainchild of some long-ago GOP and Dem campaign operatives who bonded over their mutual fury at partisan politics. They are trying to do what most experts think is impossible: ignite an uprising from the political middle.
The group is aiming to stage a virtual convention next June, where delegates will choose a presidential ticket online. But there's a twist: The presidential and vice-presidential candidates must seek the nomination as a team and they must be from different political parties. One of the candidates could even be an independent. An independent such as, say, Bloomberg.
Unity co-founder Doug Bailey, a Republican, says his group did not know Bloomberg was going to jump the GOP ship. (Baily is also founder of National Journal's "The Hotline", with which he is no longer affiliated.) But he and Gerald Rafshoon, a Unity Democratic co-founder and one-time adviser to former President Jimmy Carter, were quick to heap praise on New York's mayor.
Rafshoon called him "the perfect independent leader" and someone "who knows how to work across party lines to get results."
Added Bailey: "He understands the need for common ground."
Last year, another Unity co-founder, former Carter chief of staff Hamilton Jordan, briefed Bloomberg Deputy Mayor Kevin Scheeky about how the Unity '08 nominating process will work. Bailey says the group has briefed other potential candidates as well, all confidentially.
As of last week, Unity '08 had signed up only 64,000 delegates. Bailey says it is too early to know how many new members signed up when news of Bloomberg's moves erupted. Bailey thinks Unity '08 could have a million delegates by this fall. And once the major parties choose their candidates, presumably in February, he insists that his group "will be the only game left in town."
"Many people", he argues, "will be disappointed with their choices." Bailey predicts Unity '08 will have five to eight million delegates by convention time.
As the group tries to sign up delegates, it is also scrambling to raise money to pay for the mind-boggling job of getting its presidential ticket on the ballot in all 50 states. Rafshoon concedes the fundraising is hard. Centrist politics rarely ignite passion. But he and Bailey argue public anger at Washington's inability to solve problems is at an all-time high. They believe this might just be the middle's moment.
If they succeed, says Bailey, "it will be a great victory over the blame game of polarized politics."
But if they build it, will Bloomberg come? [LINDA DOUGLASS].
Posted at 01:20 PM
Comments
I'm a Unity 08 delegate. Bloomberg's transition to an independent is great news! I hope he jumps on the 08 bandwagon.
J.F. | 06.23.07 08:31 PM
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I know the world today is controlled by money.
Everything needs money to keep going.
wE as individuals worship money. Why in a free country is this necessary, or the world? Why can't we go back to the way it was taught to us any one can be president? What happened?
Pete Filmanski | 06.29.07 09:08 AM
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I need more information on Bloomberg. I 've heard he doesn't like protesters.
I also heard what a great politician Bush was in Texas and that he would be great with party lines but we all know how that turned out.
Chris Smith | 06.29.07 01:49 PM
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I'm not sure Bloomberg is the "perfect independent leader" I was hoping for when I signed up for Unity 08. He switched to the Republican party just so he could win an election then when it was convenient he jumped to Unity 08 so he could create a buzz about a presidential run. He's a liberal opportunistic Democrat plain and simple.
Ben Cook | 07.01.07 10:02 AM
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It is hard to say if Bloomberg will really be the perfect independent candidate, but in the end his move has brought more attention to the movement as a whole. Being someone myself who has signed up to be a delegate for Unity08 I welcome Bloomberg to throw his hat in the arena and see if the delegates and eventually voters feel he's up to the task.
Ryan Koch | 07.04.07 02:33 PM
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Unity 08 is a good idea but it will take a major push by the delegates and supporters to make it work. We need a moderate for president that does not owe his soul to the special interests groups so prevalent in DC. I never met Bloomberg but I am told he is a straight arrow and neither needs to cave to special interest nor has any overblown sense of his own importance. He might just be a good president. et
Earl Tomlinson | 11.05.07 11:21 AM
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