The week that was

WASHINGTON – Last week was a momentous one here in the nation's capital.

For the first time, since moving here five years ago, I actually felt like I was at the center of the political universe.

First there was Mitt Romney's surprise withdrawal from the race.

Then there was John McCain's effort to heal his rift with much of his own Republican Party faithful at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Here's my take on where the presidential race stands after these bombshell developments: Yes, John McCain is sitting pretty at the moment. But he didn't get the break he thinks he got when Mit Romney pulled out of the race. In fact, it may pose bigger problems for McCain than he ever imagined.

TRENDING: Capitol authorities on high alert Thursday over 'real inauguration' threat

McCain has not ascended to the top of the GOP heap because there were too few candidates. He got there because there were too many.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if most of the anti-McCain forces now united behind Mike Huckabee. What might that mean in the 27 state contests that remain undecided?

I don't pretend to know. I'm not a political bean counter. I don't know if Huckabee has enough money left to compete head to head with McCain. But, then again, I don't know whether McCain plans to run all out in those states either or save his money for the big show in November. All I know is this race has been full of surprises up until now, and I'm not ready to concede it's over.

But, let's assume for the moment John McCain is the nominee of the Republican Party. Can he win? Can he beat Hillary? Maybe. Can he beat Barack Obama? Not easily.

Hillary starts with such high negatives that McCain must be praying for her to get the Democratic nomination. He stands a decent change or being able to hold on to the anti-Hillary vote, which is so strong. That's all he really has to do in a head-to-head contest.

But Obama doesn't have 49 percent negatives coming into the race. If he wins the nomination, McCain will have a battle on his hands.

Then, again, there's another wild card to consider.

This is not going to be a two-horse race. There will be at least one other major contender in the November general election.

I have it on reliable sources that Michael Bloomberg has been watching this chaotic and unpredictable presidential race and is salivating about running an extremely well-funded independent campaign. In fact, Bloomberg, one of the wealthiest men in the world, is prepared to spend $1 billion of his own money on this race. No matter how you slice it, that's a lot of cash for a presidential campaign. It would be unprecedented. Bloomberg makes Ross Perot look like a welfare case by comparison.

While the mayor of New York doesn't stand a ghost of a chance of actually winning the race, in my opinion, he is banking on a high degree of voter disenchantment with the status quo and business as usual. He thinks he can tap into that to persuade, not a majority of Americans, but a plurality, to support him.

It is conceivable Mike Bloomberg could get 25 percent of the vote – significantly changing the dynamics of the race.

Where does that 25 percent come from?

It would seem likely most of those votes would come from the Democratic Party base. Bloomberg is every bit as "liberal" as Obama and Hillary. So his announcement, which is coming soon, will not be welcome news for the Democratic Party establishment.

This could be one of the craziest presidential elections in U.S. history. Who knows? There may be even more independent candidates jumping in.

Ron Paul swears he's not going to do it. He says he's going to run for re-election to his House seat in Texas. But just imagine how an independent run by him would make this even more unpredictable.

Related special offers:

"Hillary! Uncensored" DVD

"Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton"