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Sick of hearing about the possibility that Mike Bloomberg may be tapped by either Barack Obama or John McCain to run as vice president? Brace yourself for two new strains of will-he-or-won't-he speculation: There's now talk he'll run for a third term as mayor, a move that would require overturning city term limits. (But would give him plenty of time to pass a congestion pricing plan!) At the same time there are suggestions that Bloomie may mount a bid for governor—and he's told friends he wouldn't mind being Treasury Secretary or president of the World Bank either. It's nice to have options, isn't it?

What happened to the foundation that Bloomberg planned to run, his oft-discussed intention to spend his post-mayoral days doling out his fortune to worthy causes? Who knows. (We're guessing Kevin Sheekey doesn't really feel like handing out money to poor people all day.) So Bloomberg's office—that would be Sheekey—commissioned a poll asking state voters what they thought about the idea of lifting term limits and, separately, what they thought about the idea of a Bloomberg gubernatorial bid. Most were amenable to the idea of a run for governor (presumably David Paterson wasn't one of the New Yorkers they polled), although most hated the third-term proposal. No surprise there: Rudy Giuliani floated that idea just after Sept. 11th amid soaring approval ratings and voters balked at it then. Of course, at the time Giuliani appeared to be power-hungry and Bloomberg comes off as the more genial sort. Well, at least until recently.

Bloomberg Is Said to Explore a Third Mayoral Term or a Bid for Governor [NYT]