Will 'Bitches' Blow Bloomberg's '08 Hopes?

Mike Bloomberg's record in the private sector is half of his case for why he should be president -- but right about now it's also biting him in the butt.

A trio of Bloomberg LP's female employees say the company discriminates against pregnant women and mothers, and has for years. They also claim the New York mayor is keeping a hidden hand on the tiller, even though he's claimed to have no management role since 2001.

It's not the first time Bloomberg has been hit with the discrimination claims, and it's arguably not even the worst -- in 1995, an ex-sales rep claimed that Bloomberg himself had told her to have an abortion.

But it's still pretty bad. The most damaging part of the suit filed last week is a quote attributed to CEO Lex Fenwick: "I'm not having any pregnant bitches working for me."

Whether or not Mayor Bloomberg has been misrepresenting his role as his old shop, you can be sure these complaints will surface in the form of attack ads the moment he decides to stage an independent run for president next year.

That's why I included the chart above, from InTrade.com, a prediction market site that asks users to forecast various real-world outcomes by buying and selling imaginary contracts. As you can see, futures in Bloomberg's candidacy have flat-lined of late, and are trading way below their mid-summer high.