He's said he's not running for president on an independent ticket, but now New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is reportedly telling friends privately he's really not going to run for president:

The mayor, a keen student of power, is privately conceding to friends that he will not be a candidate for president, a position he covets, and he is coming to grips with the reality that philanthropy, even on the sky-is-the-limit scale that he is planning, will not be enough to make him a potent force in national and international affairs.

This is good news for Barack Obama: An independent, centrist run by Bloomberg would have been the easiest way for the Republicans to win the presidency in 2012.