OK, 1st: hillary people are not afraid of him other than NYC. Remember Ross Perot was the same kind of candidate a social moderate and a fiscal conservative, who was precieve as being weak on defense. The same kind of candidate, not as social liberal as Bloomberg, but Bloomberg is mostly centrist. Perot still took votes away from Bush Sr. because history has shown, most Moderates/Independents vote Republican.... which is what Bloomberg is. The underline/bode proves my point.
Here you go again, thinking you know things better than everyone else. I volunteered for the Clinton campaign in October. People who design campaign strategies were speculating that she would face a threat in states which are essentially suburbs of New York City-- i.e., Connecticut and New Jersey. These states are always close, and since Bloomberg is mayor of New York, they know quite a lot about him. Bloomberg may not win these states, but he will take votes away from both parties. The Democratic candidate will need these votes more than the Republicans.
2nd: History has shown that Moderate/Independents traditionally hurt Republicans more than Democrats with well known Third Party Candidates.
History has shown us that Ross Perot hurts Republicans. Bloomberg is a different kind of independent. He isn't Ross Perot, and I can guarantee that fiscal conservatism won't be his campaign message. Additionally, there are enough Democrats who hate Hillary Clinton enough to vote for Bloomberg instead. Unlike 1992, when her husband was running as basically an outsider from middle America, Hillary is known, loved and hated--
immensely. Everyone has an opinion of her, and those who also dislike her and the Republican candidate will be more inclined to vote for Bloomberg. They basically get the same thing they do with Hillary, except without the polarizing personality.
Finally: Last year when everyone and their sister & brother, was announcing their candidacy for Prez of the U S of A... speculation was running wild about Bloomberg possible run as an Independent. MSNBC Oberman himself said a Bloomberg run would benefit hillary in a three-way race with Rudy G. The Networks then was already conceding RudyG & hillary would be the parties nominees. I agree with Oberman then, I agree with him now... it would benefit hillary if he runs.
If Rudy Giuliani is the nominee, then yes, it will probably hurt him more than Hillary. However, it has grown more and more likely that Rudy won't be the nominee. Since there isn't any polling data which places Bloomberg and Hillary up against the forty-seven other Republicans running for the nomination, all I can say is read my above points.
