How The New York Papers Handled Indie Bloomberg

Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg. It’s official: Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg has left the Republican party to become an independent. How are the local dailies handling the story?

• Times: Yup, Bloomberg’s out of the G.O.P. But the real story is that Schwarzenegger loves him! Extra blog food for thought: Michael vs. Rudy vs. Hillary and echoes of John Lindsay.

• Daily News: Lots of details on how Bloomberg de-Republicanized. Extra points for quotes from Donna Brazile and the morning’s only news analysis of the announcement.
• Post: By leaving the Republican party, Bloomberg “potentially plunged the 2008 contest into chaos.” The Post has the most background info of the big three, including an explanation of ballot access for third-party candidates.
• Sun: The conservative daily is focusing on who Bloomberg’s potential running mates would be. Chuck Hagel? David Boren?

Bloomberg’s only scheduled public event today is a noontime press conference concerning the 311 service. We’re sure the press will get some good quotes from the Q&A period afterwards.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.