Last night I was on TV discussing the Bloomberg factor. I’ve given this some thought over the past few days, and I am now ready to enthusiastically encourage Michael Bloomberg to enter the race.

First, a few words about Michael Bloomberg. Outside of the tri-state area, no one knows anything about him. The tri-state area is solid blue, so he can’t hurt Republicans there. And, if by some fluke the Republican candidate is running so strong that the tri-state area becomes competitive, then it’s not going to be close.

So what kind of candidate will Michael Bloomberg be? A liberal one. A stridently anti-gun one. An unapologetically dovish one. It’s hard to imagine the issue on which he won’t be to the left of the Democratic nominee. Remember, after sewing up the nomination, the Democratic nominee or nominette will be tacking madly to the middle.

Since Bloomberg will be to the left of the Democratic nominee, it’s hard to imagine many conservative votes falling into his column. And as far as the mythical anti-Mormon contingent on the right is concerned (in case Romney is the Republican nominee), it’s tough to picture a liberal billionaire New York Jew providing an appealing port for that particular storm.

SO WHO WILL SUPPORT MICHAEL BLOOMBERG? My theory is virtually no one. It’s facile to compare him to Ross Perot. It’s also unfair to Perot. Although Perot eventually became a national laughingstock, when he first hit the 1992 campaign he was an electrifying presence. People on the left and people on the right took to him immediately. He went from complete anonymity to first place in the polls almost overnight.

Michael Bloomberg is not an electrifying presence. He’s dull and uninspiring. People will not see Michael Bloomberg on the tube and feel uplifted or sense a seismic change in American politics. That was the Perot effect. It won’t be the Bloomberg effect.

So what effect will he have on the race? The only way I see his presence mattering is if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee. If you watch the video above, you’ll see

Hillary addressing the Take Back America conference, a gathering of angry progressives. The reaction she received was, um, frosty.

Students of the leftwing blogs know that the progressive community can’t stand Hillary. What’s more, they know that a Hillary presidency will banish the Nutroots to four years in the wilderness. At least. There’s a real chance that if the Clintons take back the Democratic Party, there won’t be a chair for the Nutroots when the music stops playing.

For some progressives, this is a worst scenario than President Romney, Thompson or Giuliani would be. The Nutroots’ top priority has always been accruing more power for their “movement.” A Hillary ascendancy would be their worst possible scenario. So will the most progressive of voters abandon Hillary for a third party candidate who has no chance? It’s a definite possibility.

Compliments? Complaints? Contact me at Soxblog@aol.com.