Michael Bloomberg won't file for New Hampshire primary
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is still deciding whether to run for president but will not appear on the primary ballot in New Hampshire. Bloomberg does not plan to file to be on the ballot for the Democratic contest as in the first-in-the-nation primary in the Granite State, an aide familiar with his plans tells CBS News. The New Hampshire filing deadline is Friday.
There is no word yet on whether the former mayor plans to file to appear on the ballot in the other early contest states. Iowa, which holds the first caucus, doesn't have a ballot filing deadline because it uses the caucus system.
Bloomberg is still deciding whether to launch a campaign, a move he's considered several times in the past. But he's gone farther than ever before, already filing to be on the ballot in Alabama and Arkansas, states holding their primaries March 3, or Super Tuesday.
After taking steps last week to appear on the Alabama ballot, senior aides signaled the mayor would seek a different route to the nomination by focusing instead on the roughly 1,300 delegates up for grabs on Super Tuesday.
Anticipating Bloomberg's moves, the state party chairmen of New Hampshire and Iowa this week urged him to compete in their states. In a rare joint statement, Ray Buckley of New Hampshire and Troy Price of Iowa said, "we are certain that Granite Staters, Iowans, and other early state voters are eager to ask Michael Bloomberg about his plans to move our states and our country forward. We hope that they will have that opportunity."
On Wednesday, an aide also confirmed that Bloomberg has applied to appear on the ballot in Tennessee, a state with strenuous requirements that require candidates to obtain signatures from at least 2,500 registered Democrats in the state.