New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his senior advisers have been exploring a campaign to overturn the city’s term limits law or making a bid for governor, said two people who have been briefed on the deliberations, according to a report in the New York Times.

The report said Bloomberg commissioned a poll that found that even as voters approved of his performance as mayor, they would strongly oppose any attempt to undo the limits. But voters were receptive to the idea of a Bloomberg candidacy for governor.

NY TIMES REPORTS:

As the end of his term nears, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his senior advisers have been exploring strategies that would allow him to remain in political life, including undertaking a campaign to overturn the city’s term limits law or making a bid for governor, according to two people who have been briefed on the deliberations.

Mr. Bloomberg, as part of that effort, commissioned a poll recently to determine whether city voters would be open to lifting the term limits law, which forces him and other elected city officials from office after two four-year terms. The poll found that even as voters approved of his performance as mayor, they would strongly oppose any attempt to undo the limits. Voters were receptive to the idea of a Bloomberg candidacy for governor, however.

Either move by the mayor would dramatically shake up the political world in New York and beyond, given his national profile and previous pledge to try to shape the presidential campaign this fall, perhaps by establishing an independent political organization.

In addition, Mr. Bloomberg, 66, has a record of overcoming long political odds with his single-minded focus and willingness to spend tens of millions of dollars on campaigns, so his ruminations about his future or a race for governor would be viewed with seriousness — and some alarm — by other potential candidates.

The deliberations are occurring as the mayor expresses frustration that his agenda is unfinished and that some of his more ambitious proposals, like congestion pricing, have been blocked by lawmakers in Albany. And despite his previous public statements that he is looking forward to focusing on philanthropy full time after leaving office, people who have spoken to Mr. Bloomberg say he has clearly been bitten by the political bug and is not eager to give up the power that comes with elected office.

The mayor’s current term is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2009.

The people who have been briefed on the deliberations say that the poll results will not dictate the mayor’s ultimate course.

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