I think republicans, unless they are supporting Guiliani, are loving this idea of Bloomberg running. Imagine a scenario where the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton, the Republicans Fred Thompson, and Bloomberg is in as the independent. The GOP would no doubt say, "hey look America! you can either pick one of two new york ultra liberals, new york's mayor or new york's senator, OR you can pick a real American, who lives out in the real world like we do, Fred "Law and Order" Thompson!" There is an anti-New York bias among certain segments of the heartland. Two New Yorkers vs. a Non New Yorker might thus favor the non-New Yorker right?

On the other hand, what if Guiliani still gets nominated. Then you'd have all three candidates being New Yorkers. So the choice would be between the jewish New Yorker (Bloomberg), the catholic New Yorker (Guiliani) or the protestant New Yorker Hillary. This happens and you'll see Hillary openly being a Cubs fan again, and talking up her *Illinois* heritage.