Just because he’s hiring a top Democratic political operative doesn’t mean he’s dreaming of the White House again, Mayor Bloomberg said today.

“I can’t believe you’re even asking it,” the mayor told a reporter who asked if the hiring of Howard Wolfson, the media strategist in Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, was connected his own presidential ambitions.

Wolfson, who served as Bloomberg’s campaign communications director last year, is joining the administration in March in a new position as a special counselor to the mayor.

“I have no plans to run for President of the United States in 2012, 2016 or 20-anything,” added Bloomberg.

Of course, the mayor also didn’t have plans to run for a third term.