Michael Bloomberg

As presidential candidates battle in New Hampshire and beyond, an older generation of prominent politicians is bemoaning the whole polarized scene -- grousing that could encourage New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to jump into the race and transform the political landscape. On Monday, a bipartisan group of these elders is meeting at the University of Oklahoma to urge candidates to set a less divisive tone and stop catering to their narrow political bases.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans, who will join him in challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a "government of national unity" to end gridlock in Washington. Others who will be at the Jan.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told newsman Dan Rather in a broadcast interview that he cannot win the U.S. presidency and won't run. Bloomberg previously had said he had no plans to run, which failed to quiet speculation that he was planning an independent bid. "Nobody's going to elect me president of the United States," Bloomberg said.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was dismissed on his second day of jury duty after attorneys passed him up while choosing a panel to hear a personal-injury case. If the billionaire mayor had been chosen, he would have become the second sitting mayor in a row to be part of a jury in a city that no longer allows occupation-related exemptions. His predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, was the foreman on a jury in a landlord-tenant dispute during his second mayoral term in 1999.

No, he is not running for president, Michael R. Bloomberg insisted on Wednesday. But a day after the billionaire mayor of New York City quit the Republican Party, his clear flirtation with a White House run kept alive a frenzy of speculation on the what-ifs of a prospective third-party bid.

washington -- New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg quit the Republican Party on Tuesday, fueling speculation that the billionaire will shake up the presidential race by running as an independent. Bloomberg has been moving to raise his national profile for months, drawing attention to his support for gun control, stem cell research and steps to stop global warming. Term limits bar him from seeking reelection as mayor.

Voter dissatisfaction with some top-tier presidential contenders and with extreme Republican and Democratic partisanship has spawned a Web-based movement to field a bipartisan ticket. Discontent also has fueled speculation about a possible self-financed bid by billionaire New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Chatter about a potential independent Bloomberg campaign picked up steam this week after maverick Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Wednesday urged a Senate panel to reopen the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund for sick ground zero responders and said the city needed $150 million each year to continue to treat them. Thousands of the 50,000 rescue and recovery workers are being monitored and treated for serious respiratory illnesses at special clinics in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Monday said that police who shot three unarmed men -- riddling their car with 50 rounds -- had used "excessive force," but he urged angry citizens to wait for facts to emerge from an investigation. Bloomberg and New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly spent much of the morning listening to complaints from the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), and about 20 clergymen and elected officials from Queens, which was home to Sean Bell.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's 2001 Lexus sedan was carjacked in a New Jersey suburb Wednesday morning by two thieves who took the vehicle from a personal employee on an errand for the mayor. The vehicle was recovered later Wednesday. Police said the suspects were at large. According to Capt. Frank Lomia of the Hackensack, N.J., Police Department, a young woman approached the driver, Gladimir Bosnjak, 62, and asked him for money. Bosnjak refused and began to roll up his window.