Isn't one NYC mayor enough?

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous.

New York City voters would prefer current Mayor Michael Bloomberg over former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for president of the United States, according to a poll published in the New York Daily News on Monday.

Forty-six percent of those polled said Bloomberg would make a better president than Giuliani while 29 percent chose Giuliani over Bloomberg, according to the poll conducted for the Daily News by Blum & Weprin Associates.

By an even greater margin -- 56 percent to 29 percent -- those surveyed said Bloomberg was a better mayor than Giuliani, who was widely praised for his leadership following the September 11 attacks.

I like to think I'm reasonably aware when it comes to politics, but has anyone seriously put Bloomberg forward as a candidate -- anyone, that is, besides Bloomberg himself?

Giuliani is seeking the Republican nomination for president and Bloomberg repeatedly has said he has no plans to enter the race. However, speculation refuses to die that Bloomberg, a billionaire former Democrat who ran for mayor as a Republican in 2001, might self-finance an independent campaign.

The Republic Party is a complete mess. If you need more evidence than this, well, you're just not paying attention.

UPDATE (1:16 pm 5/14/07): If you read farther down the article, you'll see that one Republic thinks that Bloomberg's candidacy is a fine idea:

Should Bloomberg decide to run, Republican Sen. Chuck Hegel [sic] of Nebraska suggested the two of them might make a good ticket.

"It's a great country to think about -- a New York boy and a Nebraska boy to be teamed up leading this nation," Hagel told the CBS television show "Face the Nation" on Sunday. He did not say who should lead the ticket.

The mind boggles, truly it does.