The billionaire bows out

In an op-ed in the New York Times titled "I'm Not Running for President, but ...," Bloomberg still had some lecturing to do.  "The candidates seem afraid to level with [the American people]," he wrote. 

"As a businessman, I never believed that either party had all the answers and, as mayor, I have seen just how true that is."

The billionaire mayor said he still believes that an independent candidate can win the presidency, but he decided he would not be that candidate.  "I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not -- and will not be -- a candidate for president," he wrote.

The mayor did not make an endorsement but he did make a prediction, of sorts: "[T]he candidate who recognizes that the party is over -- and begins enlisting all of us to clean up the mess -- will be the winner this November, and will lead our country to a great and boundless future."