MARK CUBAN: Bloomberg should run for president, but there's one big question about his viability
"I'd like to see him run. I think he'd bring a different perspective," Cuban said during a Tuesday interview on WABC's "The Rita Cosby Show."
Cuban wondered, however, if the former New York City mayor would be perceived as "meek":
The question's going to be: "Is he too meek?" And when I say "meek," I mean just force of voice. Can he shout loud enough? Certainly in the business world he's far from meek, and he can handle himself in any circumstances, and he's proven that when he was mayor.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg confirmed that he was thinking about a potential independent campaign for president, which he'd be able to finance through his personal fortune. Bloomberg said he was concerned about the "level of discourse" of the race - a possible shot at Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner.
But Cuban warned that Bloomberg could struggle to stand out amid all of the loud noise of the presidential race:
In this election - the way things are running right now - being loud unfortunately means something and it takes a little force of voice to stand out, particularly on the Republican side. So, if you get into a race where he's the independent candidate, ... it's going to be loud. It's going to be boisterous. And I don't know how he'd fit.
And even more importantly, I don't know how he'll be perceived. And if he's not loud and he's kind of reserved in how he speaks, will that be perceived as negative? Will that be perceived that he doesn't have what it takes to be president? And you hate to think that those are decision points for people, but they may be.
However, Cuban nevertheless said he would encourage Bloomberg to run because the media mogul could help focus the race on substantive policy issues:
I'm not ready to pick a candidate yet or endorse anybody. But I certainly would encourage him to run … to see if it changes the tone of the debate. … If he can make it so that we're actually debating issues and looking for details on where they stand on issues, and getting into minutia in some cases, I think if he can drive that, then that would be a huge benefit.
Cuban has frequently commented on the presidential race. Earlier this month, the "Shark Tank" star praised Trump for embracing "the old KISS concept: Keep it simple, stupid." Last summer, he hailed Trump as "the best thing to happen to politics" in recent history.