Republicans should breathe a sigh of relief:

After teasing us for months and months, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York is letting us down easy in an Op-Ed in Thursday’s New York Times.

“I believe that an independent approach to these issues is essential to governing our nation — and that an independent can win the presidency,” he writes. “I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not — and will not be — a candidate for president.”

But, he continues, “I have changed my mind in one area.”