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'He Wanted To Be President': Author Eleanor Randolph On 'The Many Lives Of Michael Bloomberg'

(CBS Local)-- Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is the subject of a new book from veteran New York Times writer Eleanor Randolph called "The Many Lives Of Michael Bloomberg."

Randolph spoke to Bloomberg for her Simon & Schuster book and chronicled his journey from childhood to becoming one of the wealthiest people in America. While Bloomberg decided to not run for president in 2020, Randolph says that the former three-term mayor always had presidential aspirations.

"I tell people this: do not write a biography about a person that is alive," Randolph explains in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "He is still moving and is still very active. He wanted to be President of the United States. When he was at Johns Hopkins, he used to talk to friends and say, 'Are you going to make fun of the first Jewish President of the United States?' He never wants to be a board member, he wants to be in charge."

Bloomberg came close to running for president in 2016, but decided against it. Randolph explains why the former New York City mayor decided not to go for the position he always dreamed in the past and the present.

"2016 was a big lesson for him. They really put together a pretty good campaign for him as an Independent," said Randolph. "He decided that if he were in that race, he would pull away votes from Hillary Clinton and help elect Donald Trump and that would be in the first paragraph of his obituary. He didn't want that. This time around, I think he decided that the left had the progressives take over the party and there wasn't really room for another centrist."

"The Many Lives Of Michael Bloomberg" is available now.

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