The Party is Over

From Matt Bai at the NYT, on the recent No Labels launch and ongoing speculation as to the presidential ambitions of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, despite the latter's categorical denial that he aims to seek the office:

Those who think Mr. Bloomberg would want to build a similar kind of [third party] organization, be it No Labels or something else, are assuming that the growing power and disaffection of independent voters who identify with neither Democrats nor Republicans make a third party more viable than it has ever been. In fact, though, the rise of the independents represents a movement in exactly the opposite direction — away from party organizations altogether. . . .

What the current moment might offer, then, as Mr. Bloomberg surely knows, is an unprecedented opportunity not for a new party, but for an independent candidate who represents a break from the dictates of any party organization, mainstream or otherwise. In the current environment, the less of a party apparatus an independent candidate carries, the better his chances of success may be. . . .