THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES
McCain's Emergence Sinks Bloomberg's Plans

Forget about New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg running for president. He was dead serious about considering a run as an independent -- and spent a lot on polling and research in preparation for it -- but that was before his good friend John McCain emerged as the likely GOP presidential nominee.

Bloomberg is the kind of guy no one should underestimate, but he has no desire to be a spoiler or to waste millions of his own dollars on an ego trip, even if he can afford to. He always said he'd wait to see who the major parties nominated and that he'd only run if he thought he could win. That meant if he saw the race shaping up into a highly partisan match -- say, Clinton vs. Giuliani or Clinton vs. Huckabee -- he'd likely go for it, hoping to capture the middle and all those Americans who are tired of partisan gridlock.