Has New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg unequivocally ruled out running for the presidency in 2008? Dan Rather, the former CBS anchor who quit in disgrace after being exposed for being less than honest by bloggers and now hosts a news program at HDNet, thinks so.

The City Room blog reports:

Mr. Rather, during a taping of “The Chris Matthews Show,” told Mr. Matthews this afternoon that the mayor had stated he would not run for president. NBC released a partial transcript of the conversation between Mr. Rather and Mr. Matthews, which will be broadcast at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday):

Mr. Rather: “Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, told me that he was not going to run for president. In a direct answer to a direct question, would he run under any circumstances, he danced around a bit and finally said ‘No.’ Furthermore, he said he wasn’t open to even considering running as a vice presidential candidate with anybody, and he wouldn’t take a place in anybody’s cabinet.”
Mr. Matthews: “Is he going to run against Spitzer for governor next time?”
Mr. Rather: “I wouldn’t bet against it.”