Drafting Bloomberg Tonight

A group trying to draft Michael Bloomberg to run for president is going forward with its weekly beer-fueled meeting tonight at the Old Town - with a guest speaker from the Independence Party - despite most politicians' aversion to activity this day, the sixth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Karin Gallet, organizer of the group in New York, told me via email:

"You know, I thought about it when I realized it fell on 9/11~and decided to go ahead, even thought it might affect the turnout, because Old Town on Tuesday has already become a small bit of NYC tradition. And, in a small way, it's how we celebrate New York with something that, we hope, is meaningful."

Speaking to the group tonight will be Michael Zumbluskas, executive committee member of the state’s Independence Party and Acting Treasurer of Independence Party of America. According to the Draft Bloomberg group, Zumbluskas is “a major league political consultant to many independent and third party candidates including Ross Perot and Tom Golisano. He has held offices in United We State America of New York, the Reform Party and the Independence Party.”