Spin Cycle

So we’ve sussed out the mystery of the vice-presidential negotiations between Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel and the New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the subject of discussion earlier in the day.

Turns out Hagel was, indeed, asked whether he would consider running as vice-president on a possible Bloomberg presidential ticket.

By Kevin Sheekey.

You remember him - he’s the deputy mayor for operations, presidential politics and confidential chitchats with possible running mates. Pictured left, with the boss. We hear he may also be in charge of picking the mayor’s tie every morning (Hmm, the blue stripe is not quite presidential enough...), but that is not yet confirmed.

Anyway, for those of you playing at home...

On Saturday, the New York Times ran a story, with no direct quotes, saying that Hagel had told them that Bloomberg had talked to him about possibly becoming a running mate if the mayor took the presidential plunge.

Today, the mayor threw the Republican senator from Nebraska under the proverbial presidential motorcade, saying that he had “never talked to (Hagel) once about being a candidate...we just never had that conversation.”

A few hours later, Hagel’s chief of staff Mike Buttry, insisted that the Times story “was a little overblown” and that the senator had never said the mayor asked him to be a running mate.
“Senator Hagel said that he had had general conversations with the mayor about his political plans, but when he was asked if the mayor had approached him about running with him, he said that it hadn’t gotten that far,” Buttry said.

Buttry did acknowledge, however, that Hagel did have more specific discussions with “aides to the mayor” about being second on a Bloomberg ticket. He wouldn’t identify which mayoral aides, but sources tell us it was - SURPRISE! - Sheekey. (We also have the inside scoop on last week’s Lotto numbers, by the way).

The mayor’s office declined to comment, and a call to the New York Times not was immediately returned.

So, to recap: The mayor still isn’t running for president. Chuck Hagel still isn’t running for vice-president. And they STILL aren’t talking about it.

Update: The Times got back to us. A spokeswoman said they stand by the story.