HIZZONER HOPING FOR HILLARY-HUCKABEE?

I recently spoke with a political friend -- somebody close enough to Mike Bloomberg's team to know -- who suggested that Hizzoner would be most likely to jump into the presidential contest if the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton and the Republicans tap Mike Huckabee. The thinking goes that her built-in negatives and his problems with the establishment wing of the GOP provide the best possible combination for dual defections from each side.

A little of a year ago, writing for the New Republic, then-New York Daily News and now Politico reporter Ben Smith reported (the piece is no longer available at TNR.com) that Bloomberg deputy mayor Kevin Sheekey viewed Bloomberg as "the antidote if the candidate with the most appeal across party lines (McCain) has been taken out by the conservative wing of his own party and the Democrats nominate a certain someone with a well-known electability problem." Sheekey added: "If John McCain gets beaten to the right -- which is possible in a conservative Republican primary -- and, if Democrats elect someone through a primary who Democrats generally view as unelectable, there's a large segment of the American electorate that is looking for something different, and that could be 36 percent of the vote in enough states to give you an electoral win."

That was the calculus in the pre-Huckaburst era, of course. But Huckabee would be even more problematic for the GOP and, thus, more tempting for Bloomberg. The mayor had an eggs-and-potatoes breakfast with Barack Obama a few weeks ago in Manhattan. Though Obama said this week that he'd consider appointing Arnold Schwarzennegger to his cabinet, don't believe the speculation that Bloomberg would yield the mayoralty for a spot in an Obama administration, even treasury secretary or vice president.

And given Bloomberg rooting interests, maybe Team Obama should bring a food tester if the mayor invites him for another meal soon.

--Tom Schaller