Moderates Unite!

Asserts PoliGazette, a moderate-conservative blog, about the U.S. presidential race: "Moderate Democrats and Republicans have united, and have told their party’s leaders that if they don’t reach across the aisle, Bloomberg will run as an independent. What many American moderates have hoped for - for years now - could very well happen: it seems that Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg has teamed up with moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats. This group of people - who are in contact with Unity08 - has talked to several Republican and Democratic leaders, basically telling them, according to Broder at least, that if the Democrats and Republicans don’t nominate someone who reaches across the aisle, they’ll prepare an independent run. Is that scary for both Republicans and Democrats? Yes. Bloomberg is a billionaire. If he starts spending his own money on a massive third party campaign he’ll pose a threat to the nominees of both parties. He could, as Americans call it, be a 'spoiler.' A spoiler for who? Who knows. Could be for both in theory. In other words, Republicans and Democrats would rather not take the risk. Not only that, R’s and D’s also realize that if both parties nominate extremes (say Edwards and Huckabee) many Americans will consider voting for a third party candidate. Especially if this third party candidate is backed by several prominent politicians from both parties and has hundreds of millions of dollars to spend for his campaign.....Conclusion: moderately conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans are preparing a rebellion. They’ve had it with all the partisan bickering."

My response: I'd give a Michael Bloomberg presidential bid a look, as I am with other candidates. Illinois, a populous state with a relatively diverse population, moved up its presidential primary by about six weeks so we can for once influence who gets respective parties' bids! I consider myself a moderate-conservative (staunch fiscal conservative/social moderate/foreign policy moderate) with a strong libertarian streak, but my voting record is more centrist. In 2004, I voted in the Republican primary, but in the general election 54% of my ballot went to Democratic candidates and 46% to Republican ones. Last year, I voted in the Democratic primary, but in the mid-term election 58% of my ballot went to Republicans candidates and 42% to Democratic ones. With over a month to go before my state's primary on Mega Tuesday, I still have no idea whether I'm voting in the Democratic or Republican primary. I probably won't make my final decision until a week before the primary, after I look at our local and state races and then tally which candidates from which political party need my vote the most across the board. Rep. Tom Tancredo has dropped out of the presidential race on the Republican side. I probably wouldn't have voted for Tancredo anyway, as he is too rightist for my taste. Even though I agree with most of his libertarian views, I refuse to vote for Rep. Ron Paul because he is a racist who doesn't acknowledge the liberty of black folks. I've also eliminated former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee from my list, because of all of those commutations to convicted criminals, his softness re: illegal immigrants, and his not-fiscally-conservative track record. On the Democratic side, I won't vote for Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Sen. Mike Gravel (too leftist). Nor will Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards, liberals who lean too much toward socialism for my taste and who have other challenges that concern me, get my vote. That is whom I have eliminated so far from getting my vote.