There is a lot of talk these days about the possibility of a major independent presidential candidacy in 2008. The speculation about such a run by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, for example, is a favorite topic for political writers and prognosticators, and I don’t exclude myself from that list. I even bought several domain names including www.mikebloombergindependentforpresident.or. I figure that if he does decide to run, he’ll have to call me to claim his website. We don’t talk much since my independent friends and I got him elected. Some days the talk is about Mike. Some days it’s about Senator Chuck Hagel. And some days it’s about an undeclared fusion ticket made up of a disillusioned (moderate) Democrat and a disillusioned (moderate) Republican who team up as independents to organize all the disillusioned people in America – albeit in a moderate way. Call me simple-minded, but I’m one of those people who find it hard to believe that a major disruption of the two-party paradigm could be construed as moderate under any circumstances: it would be far too radical a departure from the status quo.