Mark Cuban's foray into politics has reached new heights

Tim Sharp/Reuters

Over the past few days, the US political world has watched as a billionaire business mogul has grabbed headlines, diverted attention from the presidential candidates, and signaled that he is open to jumping into the game of presidential politics.

And it's not Donald Trump.

Mark Cuban — billionaire investor, star of ABC's "Shark Tank," and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks — has had quite a 10-day stretch in the political sphere.

Cuban was asked about the state of the presidential race occasionally in prior months, even telling Business Insider via his Cyber Dust social media app last summer that he'd be "consider" serving as Trump's running mate.

But his foray into presidential politics has reached new heights since a Washington Post story earlier this month detailed how GOP operatives had tested his interest in running as a third-party candidate. 

Cuban was dismissive, telling CNN's Erin Burnett in one of many interviews last week that there wasn't enough time to mount a serious run. He said it "was just an email through one of my associates and it was ... a quick response of no."

The story, however, did not end there. And Cuban has helped stoke the furious speculation by being seemingly ever-present.

'Absolutely'

Cuban landed a coveted spot on NBC's "Meet the Press" and doused fuel on his personal political fire. He said he'd entertain the idea of serving as Hillary Clinton's vice president (while maintaining that Trump, too, could still make an agreeable offer for the role).

"Absolutely," he said when asked about the proposition. "But the key would be that she'd have to go more to center."

"I like the fact that [Secretary] Clinton has thought-out proposals," he continued. "That's a good thing because at least we get to see exactly where she stands."

Clinton herself in an appearance on the same program seemed more than open to the idea.

"I think we should look widely and broadly," she told Todd. "It's not just people in elective office. It is successful businesspeople. I am very interested in that. And I appreciate his openness to it." 

On Monday, Cuban told The Daily Beast that Clinton's campaign had reached out for a meeting following the virtual exchange via "Meet the Press."

He was careful not to "overstate any intent" or insinuate that the meeting would be about any vice-presidential vetting.

"It could end up being nothing," Cuban conceded.

Still, he said he would "of course" accept the meeting with Clinton, as he would with Trump, to try to push the discussion on issues.

"I think I can push at least a tiny bit more discussion around the issues," he said. "More depth, less dogma. I'm not suggesting I'm going to have some Earth-shattering impact, but there is no one acting as a stalking horse for solutions. Maybe I can create some discussion that helps the process."

Tim Sharp/Reuters

So, what's Cuban up to?

"He's positioning himself so he can have a voice not only in this election, but in election cycles to come," GOP strategist Evan Siegfried told Business Insider. "And the way he's been positioning himself is as sort of this rational, calm, voice of reason, saying he has grave concerns for Trump right now and he doesn't like Hillary but right now he'd probably be voting for Hillary." 

But multiple strategists from both sides of the political aisle who spoke with Business Insider didn't seem to take too seriously the thought of the billionaire's potential White House run in a future election. 

"The Mark Cuban boomlet is just absurd," said a Democratic strategist who worked on Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. "It's a product of the news cycle. The fact that someone who clearly is not going to be vice president, is not going to mount an independent bid, gets a prime slot of 'Meet the Press' to wear a pastel polo to opine on the state of politics is absurd."

"And I think that this is just another interesting story in an absurd cycle," the strategist added.

The strategist understood why Clinton would express interest. Of course, she couldn't start treating some hypotheticals differently than others, the person said. Brush off the thought of a Cuban vice presidency too swiftly, and the answer would be used to gauge potential interest in other candidates brought before her by reporters.  

The strategist added that Cuban's independent streak has led him to have "tendencies" that align him with Trump.

"He's kind of all over the place," they said. "The appeal of having two blowhard businessmen in the race is the only reason why people are still talking about this."

Tim Sharp/ReutersBut while the Democratic strategist found Cuban to be out of touch with the party, Matt Mackowiak, a GOP strategist and president of the Potomac Strategy Group, felt that Cuban is a "pretty run-of-the-mill Democrat." He said he couldn't imagine why some Republican operatives were intrigued by pushing the brash billionaire on a third-party ticket.

"At least he works in the private sector and knows the impact of taxes and regulation and the impact of big government, but I'm having trouble seeing what's appealing about him," Mackowiak told Business Insider. "He's obviously a very blunt guy. He's a risk taker. He's a very smart guy. You know he'd be a very different kind of candidate."

Sounds vaguely familiar.

"He'd sort of be a Trump-like candidate on the Democratic side, but I have trouble seeing what outcome is Republican," he said. "I have much less enthusiasm about him than some people might."

'There are so many variables'

Cuban has done little to quell speculation about his intentions. He has repeatedly acknowledged that the thought of a future run is much more prevalent in his mind after witnessing the success of another businessman with no prior political career.

Last week, he openly mused to Business Insider through the Cyber Dust app that there was one scenario in which he'd certainly jump into a presidential race.

"If Kanye is a party nominee, I'll run against him," Cuban said, referencing the star hip-hop artist Kanye West's speech at last summer's MTV Video Music Awards when he said he would run for president in 2020.

Cuban said during his "Meet the Press" appearance that it's "too early to tell," which has all the classic markings of a non-answer that leaves plenty of doors open in the future.

Cuban added that whatever happens with the economy over the next four years would play a large role in his decision making.

"And so, we'd have to see what happened," he said. "We'd have to see, you know, if Congress still does nothing or they've managed to take steps and really have an impact. There are so many variables that I don't have the answers to. I really couldn't tell you."       

Tim Sharp/Reuters

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