Subject: Romney Quietly Meets With Bloomberg - NYTimes.com
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Rob Walker" <[email-masked]>, "Betsy Massey" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 1 May 2012 12:11:32 -0400

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/romney-quietly-meets-with-bloomberg/

Romney Quietly Meets With Bloomberg

The pursuit of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s presidential endorsement is headed into overdrive.

On Tuesday, Mitt Romney had a private breakfast with Mr. Bloomberg at the headquarters of the mayor’s philanthropic foundation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, according to two people briefed on the meeting.

It was the first meeting between Mr. Bloomberg, the billionaire media mogul, and Mr. Romney, the former chief executive of a private equity firm.

Over coffee and juice, the two discussed several staples of Mr. Bloomberg’s agenda in Washington over the last decade: the economy, immigration, education and even gun control (a topic on which the two man are not entirely on the same page).

The meeting came just a few days after Mr. Bloomberg spent the afternoon with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., according to people close to the mayor.

The men played golf on Friday in the Washington, D.C. area, according to a person told of their outing.

Mr. Bloomberg, an independent who founded one of the world’s largest media companies and is known as a generous political donor, did not endorse in the last presidential race but is said to be open to doing so this time around.

His imprimatur could be useful to either candidates, conveying the approval of a businessman known for his common-sense and nonpartisan governing style.

So far, though, it is the White House that has lavished the most attention on Mr. Bloomberg, despite his sometimes fraught relationship with Mr. Obama. (Among other things, the mayor has complained that under Mr. Obama, his friends on Wall Street feel “vilified”).

The president hosted the mayor for lunch at the White House a few weeks ago, during which Mr. Obama asked the mayor what he wanted to do after leaving City Hall. And Mr. Obama himself played golf with the mayor in the summer of 2010.

Eric D. Schwerin
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