With hopes of a Michael Bloomberg independent candidacy still alive, I went over to West Medford to get a sense of how his hometown residents saw things.
Conversations with a cross section of the neighborhood’s voters suggest that Mr. Bloomberg would have an uphill climb ahead of him. Most residents, many of whom are Democrats, were not interested in a Bloomberg candidacy. Others simply rolled their eyes or uttered “no” when asked if they would talk about Mr. Bloomberg’s presidential prospects. Although there are a sufficient amount of voters that said they don’t know enough about him to speculate what would happen if Mr. Bloomberg got into the race.
The foot and car traffic was heavy at Dunkin’ Donuts, where Harry Gaines, a Democrat, was sipping coffee. “I have not really decided yet, but I lean toward Barack.” Asked what he likes about Mr. Obama, Mr. Gaines said “his honesty, his youthfulness.”
Of Mr. Bloomberg, Mr. Gaines was somewhat dismissive. “I don’t know,” Mr. Gaines said. “He doesn’t impress me.”
One interesting footnote is that Medford’s mayor, Michael McGlynn, just switched his allegiance from John Edwards to Hillary Clinton. Why was McGlynn such a passionate Edwards supporter? His daughter Kathleen served as the chief of staff to Edwards’ campaign.
Of Bloomberg, he says “He’s a guy who, if you look at him, has grown tremendously in that job.” “Right now, my allegiance is to Hillary, unless his mother calls me,” he added.