NEW YORK _ Michael Bloomberg is taking his first official step toward running for president in 2020.
The billionaire ex-mayor, who has flirted with a White House bid for months, is filing paperwork Friday to qualify for Alabama's Democratic presidential primary, signaling he's about to jump into the 2020 race, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
While the sources stressed he hasn't completely made up his mind, Bloomberg has dispatched staffers to Alabama this week to gather signatures in order to make it onto the Yellowhammer State's primary ballot, a former Bloomberg administration official told The New York Daily News on Thursday.
"They've totally geared up over the last few days and they're doing round the clock meetings," the official said.
Alabama's primary isn't until March, but the state has a Friday deadline to qualify for the ballot. A candidate needs 500 signatures to qualify.
The former administration official said Bloomberg "appears enthusiastic" about a 2020 bid.
Top Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson claimed his billionaire boss is the ideal candidate to "take the fight to Trump and win."
"We now need to finish the job and ensure that Trump is defeated," Wolfson said in a statement, "but Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that."
Wolfson added, "If Mike runs he would offer a new choice to Democrats built on a unique record running America's biggest city, building a business from scratch and taking on some of America's toughest challenges as a high-impact philanthropist."
