The news of the morning, the political news anyway, is Michael Bloomberg’s announcement that he has left the Republican party.

The speculation of course is that he will run for president as an independent. A new third party?

He says no.

“Although my plans for the future haven’t changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city,” he said in a statement released yesterday.

But that hasn’t stopped everyone from conjecturing about race among Hillary, Rudy and Mike. A New York race all the way.

Bloomberg made his announcement after giving the opening address at a conference called, tellingly: “Ceasefire! Bridging the Political Divide.”

It took place in California, where another independently minded Republican governs.

Of course Bloomberg wasn’t a Republican until he ran for mayor. He was a Democrat until then. Now, he wants to be non-partisan.

And as a Republican, he’s gone his own way. He’s been making his own policy on global warming, on gun control.(Not Iraq though. He hasn’t set out much of a policy on the war.)

Here’s what he said in his speech yesterday (according to a written version): “City and state governments can lead the way, but in many cases our actions are limited and pre-empted by federal policies. And more and more, those policies are failing to keep up with the times and failing to respond to our most-pressing problems.”

And this: “There’s nothing wrong with belonging to a political party—about two-thirds of us do. But joining a party doesn’t mean you should stop thinking for yourself.”

You’ve got to wonder how this will play out.

PHOTO: Michael Bloomberg in California. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)