Mayor Bloomberg, who always fends off the suggestion that he'll make a run at the White House, had to spell out why he's just as powerful where he's sitting in Manhattan: "I have my own army," for one. At a speech last night, The New York Observer transcribed an almost comically self-satisfied quote from the three-term mayor, who seemed to wave off the notion that there was much more to look forward to with an Oval Office desk:

"I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world. I have my own State Department, much to Foggy Bottom’s annoyance. We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have," Mayor Bloomberg said.

After he made those comments, as The Observer notes, he did, however, say that a Mayor's job was good prep for being president. But, after he framed the issue that way, the White House does look a bit shabbier.

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Erik Hayden