Bloomberg buzz not going away

Fred Thompson's long tease is finally over -- he formally launched his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday.

Michael Bloomberg is a different matter.

The New York mayor, who has created quite a bit of buzz as a possible independent candidate, keeps saying no. But his actions keep saying maybe.

The latest: Just like the official candidates, he now has his own pages on the popular social networking sites Facebook and MySpace. His MySpace page notes that he went to Harvard Business School, and as of this morning listed 48 friends.

Bloomberg started the speculation in June when he changed his voter registration from Republican to unaffiliated. Then last month, former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn acknowledged that he had talked to Bloomberg, as well as Unity '08, a group trying to field a bipartisan or independent ticket for president.

And then even his mother, who lives in Medford, stirred the pot. "The last time we talked about it, he said, 'I haven't made up my mind yet,' " Charlotte Bloomberg told Rich Barlow, who writes the Spiritual Life column in the Globe. "Personally, I don't think that he is interested."

In his latest statement, posted on his website Thursday, Bloomberg, himself, said, "As I've said before and I'll say again -- I am not running. But 'Are you running?' is the wrong question. The question should not be about politics, but about leadership. Not who is the best candidate, but who will be the best President."

Bloomberg continues, "For too long, the American people have been served up empty promises based on what politicians think we want to hear. It's time for something real. That's our challenge as a nation. That's what this upcoming campaign needs to be about. And these are the issues and challenges that I will continue to address."