Besides, “First Girlfriend” Just Sounds Lame

In our haste, we neglected one of the more obvious obstacles:

For all of his billions, Mayor Michael Bloomberg lacks one thing all the current presidential candidates proudly display: a spouse.

The country has not elected a bachelor president since 1884, when Grover Cleveland won the White House despite newspapers huffing that “a man who will not marry a woman and take care of her has no right to be a president.”

Singles haven’t had much luck getting nominated either. The last unwed candidate chosen by a major party was Adlai Stevenson, the divorced Democrat who lost to Republican Dwight Eisenhower twice in the 1950s.

Bloomberg, 65, has a companion of seven years, Diana Taylor, and essentially lives with her. Their arrangement and his star-studded past love life would present him with new political territory to navigate if he runs.