Mike Bloomberg is considering making Hillary Clinton his running mate.
At least that’s what a source told the Drudge Report this morning.
Polling found the Bloomberg-Clinton combination would be a formidable force to take on Trump in the race for the White House, the source said.
The former New York City mayor is said to be considering even changing his official residence from New York to Colorado or Florida – where he also has homes – because the electoral college makes it difficult for US president and vice-president to reside in the same state.
Under the Twelfth Amendment to the US Constitution, which provides the procedure for electing the president and vice-president, it states that the two people could not both inhabit the same state as the elector.
Clinton’s primary home is in Chappaqua, New York.
EXCLUSIVE: BLOOMBERG CONSIDERS HILLARY RUNNING MATE
DRUDGE: Bloomberg himself would go as far as to change his official residence from NY to homes he owns in CO or FL, since electoral college makes it hard for a POTUS and VPOTUS to be from same state. https://t.co/XH3TJA9nas pic.twitter.com/NuOy9w6HM8
— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) February 15, 2020
Many Democrats are expressing skepticism at the report, which comes as a new Democratic primary poll finds Bloomberg in the lead in delegate-rich Florida.
This is bad news for former Vice President Joe Biden, who took a beating in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
The Florida poll shows Bloomberg with just a one-point lead over Biden, with the ex-mayor receiving 27 percent support from Florida Democrats compared to Biden’s 26 percent support.
Bloomberg’s edge comes from having about a 10-point lead over Biden among white survey respondents.
The former mayor gets the support of 28 percent of white Floridians, versus the 18.5 percent who selected Biden as their first choice for Democratic nominee.
Former first lady Clinton previously said she faced calls to run for president in 2020 after she lost out to Trump in the 2016 election, but she has repeatedly said she won’t join the race.
However, she stopped short of denying she was considering running for vice-president alongside one of the Democratic candidates earlier this month.
‘I never say never because I do believe in serving my country, but it’s not going to happen,’ she told Ellen DeGeneres.
In January, President Trump made the strange claim that Clinton had promised Bloomberg the job of secretary of state should she be elected president in 2016, to keep him from running four years ago.
‘He had a deal with Hillary Clinton that he was going to become secretary of State. It was very simple. People knew that,’ Trump said during an interview on CNBC filmed on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump then suggested Bloomberg would have been double-crossed.
‘Wasn’t going to happen. It was going to go to Terry McAuliffe,’ Trump said, name-dropping the former governor of Virginia who’s been a close Clinton friend.
‘I mean, so they were playing with Michael,’ Trump alleged. ‘And – it’s too bad, but he’s spending a fortune.’
Bloomberg had endorsed Clinton over Trump in 2016, saying at the Democratic National Convention in July 2016 that though ‘there are times when I disagree with Hillary,’ the country must unite to ‘defeat a dangerous demagogue’.
‘Let’s elect a sane, competent person with international experience,’ Bloomberg said at the time.
It’s been a busy week for Bloomberg as he was forced to apologize after a recording was leaked online of him talking bluntly about his stop-and-frisk policies.
Trump tweeted ‘WOW, BLOOMBERG IS A TOTAL RACIST!’
Ironic considering Trump has pushed the same policy as president.
On Thursday, Bloomberg apologized for endorsing the stop-and-frisk policy.
‘There is one aspect of approach that I deeply regret, the abuse of police practice called stop and frisk,’ Bloomberg said.
‘I defended it, looking back, for too long because I didn’t understand then the unintended pain it was causing to young black and brown families and their kids.’
‘I should have acted sooner and faster to stop it,’ he continued. ‘I didn’t, and for that, I apologize.’