Allow us to be the very last to pontificate on the political significance of Mayor Mike Bloomberg's tearless formal kiss-off of the Republican Party

Since everybody else has already run his/her mouth off about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's much-heralded announcement yesterday that he's changing his party registration from Republican to None-of-the-Above, and since DWT does after all have an NYC outpost, we keep thinking we ought to say something about this news, if only for the record.

(1) We don't believe he's running for president, though we have no difficulty believing he's had his people research all the ins and outs of it. Funny thing about our Mike: He seems to like to gather information--lots and lots of it, and on all sides of the question--before he commits to a course of action. Any contrast between this quaint old practice and the decision-making process of certain other public officials we could name is . . . well, possibly instructive. For the record, our Mike didn't become a billionaire by accident.

(2) Is he keeping his options open? Well, duh, isn't that what smart people usually do? This is politics, after all, which means you never know.

(3) So why this elaborately orchestrated public spectacle? Oh, come now! Even the Washington Post's Howie "Don't Got a Clue" Kurtz was speculating yesterday that, as a term-limited NYC mayor with no obvious immediate political stepping stones, Mike is about to vanish into a media black hole. And while he never quite got around to making what seemed to be his point, the inevitable attention Mike knows he will get as a possible presidential candidate makes it easier for him to keep those options open (see No. 2 above), and perhaps even expand them. (When Hapless Howie gets it, you figure it's either blindingly obvious or preposterously wrong.)

(4) Uh, hold on a sec, you say this Bloomberg fellow was a Republican?


UPDATE FROM HOWIE, NEARLY ARRIVED IN MIKE'S TOWN

Well, I was born in Brooklyn, so it's my town too. But when I checked into my hotel, much earlier than normal-- since I'm usually flying from L.A., not Montreal like today-- the hotel didn't have my apartment ready. They were terribly apologetic and asked me to give them 30 minutes. Not a problem; I was anxious to see if Saks has a sale on underwear. It's always hit-and-miss for me. Their own brand is my favorite boxers and when they're on sale, you get the highest quality for the lowest price (my favorite thing). But I've never been able to figure out when they do those super-sales. It's only half a block from the hotel and-- BOOM!-- 30% off. I stocked up. And then, even more glorious, I was told that Mayor Mike had abolished the sales tax for any purchase under $110. He must be running for something!