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 Bloomberg has advised friends and associates that he would be
willing to spend at least $1 billion of his own money on a campaign
for the November 2016 election, according to the source, who spoke
on condition on anonymity to discuss the former mayor's thinking.
News of Bloomberg mulling a presidential run was first reported
Saturday by the New York Times.
Bloomberg, 73, has given himself an early March deadline for
entering the race, the source said, after commissioning a poll in
December to see how he would fare against Donald Trump and Hillary
Clinton, the Republican and Democratic frontrunners.
No third-party candidate has ever won a U.S. presidential election.
But Bloomberg, who has close Wall Street ties and liberal social
views, sees an opening for his candidacy if Republicans nominate
Trump or Texas Senator Ted Cruz and the Democrats nominate Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders, the source said.
 Bloomberg, who has long privately flirted with the idea of mounting
a presidential run, served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to
2013. He switched his party affiliation from Republican to
independent in 2007 and in recent years has spent millions on
national campaigns to tighten U.S. gun laws and reform immigration.
One unnamed Bloomberg adviser told the Times the former mayor
believes voters want "a non-ideological, bipartisan,
results-oriented vision" that has not been offered in the 2016
election cycle by either political party.
A well-financed presidential run by Bloomberg would likely disrupt
the dynamics of the election, but the billionaire would face
significant hurdles in a race that has been in full swing for nearly
a year.
SPLITTING THE VOTE
Though no third-party candidate has ever claimed the White House,
several previous bids have affected the overall makeup of the race.
In 1992 Texas businessman Ross Perot ran as an independent, a
decision that some believe helped Democrat Bill Clinton defeat
incumbent Republican George H. W. Bush.
Bloomberg earned 13 percent support when facing a hypothetical
three-way race against Clinton and Trump, according to a poll of
4,060 registered voters conducted January 14-17 by Morning Consult.
Trump and Clinton were virtually tied at 37 and 36 percent,
respectively, the survey found.
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Part of Bloomberg's motivation to enter the race stems from a
frustration with Clinton's campaign, the source said. Clinton has
been dogged by questions about her honesty amid an ongoing
investigation into her use of a private email server as secretary of
state.
Sanders, Clinton's chief rival, has recently surged in polling in
key early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire. That development has
made Bloomberg increasingly worried about a general election between
Sanders, a self-described socialist, and Trump or Cruz, both of whom
have staked out far-right positions on issues like immigration.
At the New Hampshire Republican Party "First in the Nation
Presidential Town Hall” in Nashua, Senator Rand Paul, who is lagging
badly in opinion polls, seemed unfazed by the possibility of a
Bloomberg third-party run. He even saw a bright side for his party.
"If he splits the Democrat vote - those for gun control - that might
be good for Republicans," Paul told reporters.
Representatives for Bloomberg declined to comment on the former
mayor's plans for the presidential race.
(Additional reporting by Alana Wise in New Hampshire; Editing by
Janet Lawrence and Mary Milliken)
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