NORMAN, Okla. -- As Republicans and Democrats snipe at each other a day before the New Hampshire primary, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is starring at a bipartisan sideshow where the underlying message is that he could launch his own independent run for the White House.

Bloomberg and an older generation of elected officials met Sunday in Oklahoma for a private dinner, where the mayor arrived with three cheesecakes from Brooklyn and the group began working on a core set of principles about political unity. They planned to gather Monday to discuss ideas and bemoan how no one in politics plays nice anymore.

"Our political system is, at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time where America must lead boldly at home and abroad," says the invitation sent to participants.

Some have more bluntly billed it as a warning to the major party candidates.

"It is a message to the two parties: Please rise to the occasion," former Democratic Sen. David Boren, one of the organizers, said last week. "If you don't, there is always a possibility out there of an independent."

It is unclear what exactly the group is seeking from the candidates. Several already have made bipartisanship part of their campaign messages.

Democrat Barack Obama, who won the Iowa caucuses, referred to that theme several times during his victory speech. The Republican winner in Iowa, Mike Huckabee, also called for across-the-aisle unity.

Asked last week where the candidates were failing, Bloomberg gave an answer that did not have one main focus, suggesting, among other things, that none of the contenders had a plan to fight terrorism, solve world hunger or stop genocide. He did not offer a plan of his own.

The bipartisan group includes former Republican Sen. Bill Brock of Tennessee, former Clinton administration Defense Secretary William Cohen, former Democratic Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican, and Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, who is often mentioned as the ideal running mate for Bloomberg.

The billionaire mayor, who is in his second term, says publicly that he will not run, but his denials have weakened as his aides more boldly explore a potential candidacy.

In recent months, Bloomberg stopped saying "I'm not running," which was his stock answer for a long time, and now answers carefully that he's "not a candidate." Which he's not. Yet.

Last month he also made the rare acknowledgment that he's at least been thinking about a campaign staff, admitting during a news conference that "if I was going to run, I know exactly who to go to," he said.

Whether the confab is intended as a launching pad for a billion-dollar Bloomberg candidacy, that depends on whom you ask.

Graham, who sought the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, told The Associated Press last week that the meeting "is not a third-party effort" and said he didn't think an independent candidate could get elected.

"Frankly, what I think is best for the country is to have a strong viable two-party system," he said. "We have enough problems getting consensus with the two parties -- our goal is to make suggestions on how to make the current system work."

And Whitman issued a statement last week to clarify that it was "never the intent" for the conference to be considered the first step toward a third-party presidential bid.

For his part, Bloomberg also insists the meeting is not about him.