Politics

Republicans Rule The Big Apple

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 5, 2001 / 8:35 AM EST / CBS

Billionaire Republican Michael Bloomberg started his first day as mayor-elect Wednesday by meeting with supporters on the streets of Brooklyn before heading to the Bronx to meet with a former Democratic candidate.

Bloomberg, who spent at least $50 million of his fortune on his successful campaign for City Hall, completed one of the most dramatic political turnarounds in New York mayoral history, defeating Democrat Mark Green on Tuesday.

With all precincts reporting, Bloomberg had 719,819 votes, or 50 percent, while Green had 676,560 votes, or 47 percent.

Bloomberg had trailed badly in polls just weeks ago, but voters ended up following the popular Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's choice to lead the city out of the chaos left by the Sept. 11 attack that brought down the World Trade Center.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg met with a shop owner in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood who, during the early days of the campaign, had challenged him to return should he win. Later, he was to meet with Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic party nomination.

"I need all the help I can get ... and I can't think of anybody better to reach out to than the Bronx borough president, Freddy Ferrer," Bloomberg said. The mayor-elect added that he would follow through on a campaign promise to take a salary of $1 a year

Bloomberg's unexpected victory came early Wednesday when Green conceded the race to the GOP billionaire. At Bloomberg's campaign headquarters, outgoing GOP Mayor Rudy Giuliani strode onto the podium with Bloomberg, obviously ecstatic that the candidate he backed had won.

"Nobody believed we could do it," said Bloomberg, who came from behind in the polls on a wave of tens of millions of dollars spent on TV ads, and a raft of campaign endorsements from heavy-hitters including Governor George Pataki, former Mayor Ed Koch, and former Governor Hugh Carey.

"The easy part is done," said Bloomberg. "Now comes the hard part. With the help of George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani, we're going to build on this and go forward."

Earlier, after telephoning his congratulations to Bloomberg, Green spoke to his disappointed supporters.

"It isn't easy being Green," quipped the Democrat, trying to console his loyal campaign workers. "We gave it our all, but it wasn't enough."

The Democrat, who made his name as a consumer advocate and a protege of Ralph Nader, reacted immediately as his supporters booed the name of Bloomberg, telling them that they should support the new mayor in the big job that lies ahead.

Green couldn't resist also mentioning that Bloomberg outspent him by $45 million, but at the same time, he praised his opponent's past philathropic works and said that same spirit will now have to be brought to bear in the public arena.

In his victory speech, Bloomberg referred more than once to allegations that it was his millions in campaign spending that "bought the election," a characterization he's lways rebutted by saying the money just brought his ideas to the attention of the people.

"People talk about the money in this campaign," said Bloomberg, "but we had a secret weapon - 5,000 volunteers...diversity...from every part of this city. They had a dream and I will not let them down."

Bloomberg also sought to reassure critics who have suggested that his skills as a businessman used to giving orders are not likely to be helpful in a job in which building consensus is a big part of the tools of success as a leader.

"I have never in my life gone without asking for help, and I'm not going to stop now," said Bloomberg, who also made an appeal to Green and his backers.

"We need them to join with us to make this city better," said Bloomberg. "Tonight is not about Republicans or Democrats - it's about New Yorkers."

Bloomberg will ease into his new role as mayor-in-waiting, with a visit later today to the Brooklyn neighborhood where he first began his mayoral campaign.

In the two most important races outside New York City, Democrats marched to expected victories in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections. In Virginia, Democrat Mark Warner broke an eight-year Republican hold on the governorship. And in New Jersey, Democrat Jim McGreevey coasted to victory, becoming New Jersey governor after an election dwarfed in the end by fears of anthrax, terror attacks and recession.

Read more about other
Elections across the country

In the New York City mayoral campaign, much of the credit for the Bloomberg campaign's late gain in momentum was given to a series of Bloomberg commercials that featured Giuliani telling New Yorkers that Bloomberg was the best hope to continue his legacy.

The new mayor will have to both rebuild the city and fill the shoes of the man who has risen, in the aftermath of Sept. 11, from New York mayor to national hero.

CBS News Correspondent Anthony Mason reports Giuliani, by looming so large in the crisis and the election, made the actual candidates appear small by comparison.

"I found it hard to understand why we couldn't come up with better candidates, but we didn't," said former mayor Ed Koch. He had endorsed, one at a time, two other candidates who lost before finally backing Bloomberg.

"They don't carry that aura with them," said Village Voice writer Wayne Barrett, before the polls closed. "They're going to have to try to acquire quickly as mayor a bit of the Guiliani aura."

The stakes are high – not just for the candidates, but for the city and the country.

"The country is going to have to make an enormous investment in us," Barrett says, "so it ought to care a great deal."

In the final weeks, the campaign evolved into an inelegant slugfest in which Green attacked Bloomberg for his past membership in four all-white clubs and what Gren characterized Monday as Bloomberg's "disgraceful, disgusting, offensive (comments) about women."

Bloomberg also questioned what he claimed were divisive tactics used by Green in his primary contest with Bronx Borough President Freddy Ferrer, allegations which rang true for many minority voters, despite attempts to iron out that intra-party dispute.