Michael Bloomberg says he won't run for president after all

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg won't run for president after all, he announced in an op-ed on Bloomberg View Monday evening.

"When I look at the data, it’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win. I believe I could win a number of diverse states -- but not enough to win the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win the presidency," he wrote.

Bloomberg points out — correctly — that even if he did well in the race, none of the candidates would win enough delegates to get an outright win, leading to a byzantine process in which the U.S. House would choose the president. Since the House is Republican-controlled, that means they would almost certainly pick someone from their own party.

"Party loyalists in Congress -- not the American people or the Electoral College -- would determine the next president," he added. "As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz. That is not a risk I can take in good conscience."

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The socially liberal, fiscally center-right billionaire has routinely flirted with a White House run in previous years only to back out at the last minute. But this year, he seemed somewhat more serious about a run given the mounting populism and rise of hardline candidates in both parties.

Even though he's bowing out, Bloomberg still isn't happy with the state of the presidential race.

"The current presidential candidates are offering scapegoats instead of solutions, and they are promising results that they can’t possibly deliver. Rather than explaining how they will break the fever of partisanship that is crippling Washington, they are doubling down on dysfunction," he lamented.

Sources close to Bloomberg made it clear that he was most likely to run if it appeared that Bernie Sanders would be the Democratic nominee and either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz won the GOP nod. And while the latter looks likely, it looks increasingly unlikely that Sanders will be able to secure the nomination.

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