Ex-NYC mayor Bloomberg says he’s considering 2016 presidential run

Bloomberg said that he is “looking at all the options,” confirming a report in the New York Times last month that he was considering an independent presidential bid.

“I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters,” Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg reportedly is prepared to invest as much as $1 billion of his own money if he were to run. He told the Financial Times that he would have to start securing his name on ballots in states starting in early March.

His entry would shake up the race, perhaps more to the detriment of Democrats than Republicans because Bloomberg has pushed signature issues of the left, such as action on climate change and measures to restrict access to guns. But he presumably would have to step back from Bloomberg LP, where he has taken on a greater role since leaving the mayor’s office.