If It Looks Like A Duck . . .

How to stave off lame duckness? Float the idea of abolishing term limits and/or a run for governor. But — people! — please don’t pay attention:

As his political team considers strategies that would allow him to remain in public life, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg acknowledged with rare candor on Wednesday that he was unsure about what to do next, and whether it would be as satisfying as being mayor.

Associates of Mr. Bloomberg say that while he has not decided to run for governor or seek a way to serve a third term, he has not closed the door on either possibility.

The New York Times reported Tuesday on its Web site that the mayor’s political team had been polling city voters to gauge support for undoing the city’s term limits law, which will force Mr. Bloomberg from office next year.

The poll also tested voters’ views on a Bloomberg candidacy for governor.

“I plan to, I think, stay on in public service in some ways or other — I don’t know how,” the mayor said on Wednesday after a news conference at City Hall. “You know, I don’t see anything for me. …” He stopped himself, looking off in the distance. “My guess is that, like I’ve said before, I will wind up running the foundation along with Patti Harris and trying to make the world better,” he said, referring to his closest deputy, Patricia E. Harris.

“I have no idea whether it’s going to be enough for me or not,” he added. “You can make a big difference in this world and I don’t know what specifically I’m going to do any more than you know what specifically you’re going to do in a year and a half.”