But Then What Will Kevin Sheekey Have To Do At Work?*

The only way to let go of the endless media speculation about whether he’ll run is flood the zone with stories saying he won’t. Then maybe we can get our lives back:

His bosom pals endorsed someone else. Some of those trying to draft him for a run are suddenly less interested. And even the mayor himself, as he continues to insist he will not be a contender for the White House, is for the first time sounding like someone who means it.

Has Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s presidential bubble finally burst?

If not, it is losing air as quickly as Senator John McCain’s is gaining momentum, say some of his most ardent supporters.

“I think as soon as McCain started pulling ahead, it became really clear to me that that was probably the swan song,” said Karin Gallet, founder of the New York chapter of Unite for Mike, a movement to draft the mayor for a third-party run. “I hope I’m wrong. But that’s really Bloomberg’s base of support.”

Ms. Gallet’s hopes of a Bloomberg candidacy were finally shattered when Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, both Bloomberg friends and supporters, endorsed Mr. McCain, a Republican.

She is abandoning the effort, she said, and getting back to her life.

The question is when all this fruitless presidential posturing will tarnish his legacy as mayor. Maybe that’s the only way he’ll pull Sheekey back.

*Don’t get caught playing solitaire.