Make Way for Bloomberg

A second America's Mayor has just checked in.

If 9/11 hadn't happened, Rudy Giuliani would not be the leading Republican candidate for President in '08.

The Virginia Tech massacre may give Mike Bloomberg, his successor, the traction for his anticipated run as an Independent. In the new Newsweek, he explains how his frustration at Federal inaction to stop the illegal gun trade led him to form "Mayors Against Illegal Guns," a coalition of 15 big-city leaders to take legal action.

"Most gun dealers follow the law and run honest businesses," Bloomberg writes. "But the statistics show that 1 percent of dealers sell more than half of all illegal guns. Why isn't the federal government going after them? Here's one reason: unlike mayors, members of Congress don't get a phone call in the middle of the night when a cop is shot and killed. They don't deliver the eulogies..."

"The response to our group astonished us. In 12 months, more than 200 mayors have signed on—and we're still growing. This groundswell is not partisan or regional. We have Republicans, Democrats, independents, big cities and small towns—north, south, east, west. Our message is resonating because this isn't about ideology or the Second Amendment. It's about law enforcement. It's about getting data on guns used in crimes, one of the top tools our police have for cracking down on illegal weapons.

"Will we succeed? In my own brief political experience, I've found that pragmatism beats ideology. So yes—and sooner rather than later."

That sounds like the platform for a Presidential candidate who could cut through the unease with both major parties and, with campaign financing from his own billion dollars of resources, offer exhausted American voters something new.