Politics

Tight NYC Mayor's Race Wraps Up

September 10, 2001 / 3:07 PM EDT / AP

After months of appearances at senior centers, street fairs and parades, the six major Democratic and Republican mayoral candidates began wrapping up their campaigns Monday with a whirlwind of appearances.

The candidates are seeking to replace Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who is barred by new city term limits from running for a third term.

Billionaire media owner Michael Bloomberg will meet former U.S. Rep. Herman Badillo in the GOP primary.

Because Democrats outnumber Republicans in the city 5-to-1, the winner of the Democratic primary would be a heavy favorite to replace Giuliani in the Nov. 6. general election.

That primary is the first in what may be a three-stage race. If no candidate emerges with more than 40 percent of the vote, a runoff will held Sept. 25.

The stunning surge of Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer toward longtime front-runner Mark Green has injected sizzle into the Democratic race, which had been a sleepy affair contested by veteran politicians who differed little on issues.

Three polls in the past week show that Ferrer, in last place just a month ago, is now in a statistical tie with Green, the city's public advocate. Each attracted between 25 and 30 percent of likely voters.

Republican Bloomberg, a political novice, has spent more than $20 million of his own money to bankroll a high-priced team of strategists and to broadcast around-the-clock television and radio advertisements. Badillo has raised less than $300,000; he trails by wide margins in every poll.

Education and crime have been the major issues. All candidates have pledged to reform the city's underperforming public school system, and to maintain the low-crime rates of the Giuliani era while curbing alleged abuses of the NYPD.

Besides Green and Ferrer, the other two Democratic candidates are Comptroller Alan Hevesi and City Council speaker Peter Vallone, whose campaigns have not attracted more than 20 percent of likely voters in the polls.

While campaigning Monday, Ferrer dismissed accusations by Vallone that his message is racially divisive. He later received a blessing from an ultra-Orthodox rabbi in a neighborhood thought to be a Vallone stronghold.

Giuliani has not made any endorsements, but he has made his preferences clear through kindly remarks about the respective qualifications of Bloomberg and Vallone. Conversely, the mayor's attacks against Hevesi's alleged ethical lapses are blamed for helping stall the comptroller's campaign.

Green, 56, a former public interest lawyer and Ralph Nader disciple, is well-known from his two earlier, unsuccessful runs for the U.S. Senate — and from his eight years as the city's public advocate, an elective office in which he essentially served as a government watchdog.

Ferrer, 51, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 1997, is seeking to become the city's first Hispanic mayor. He won a City Council seat in 1982 and the borough presidency five years later.

Even on th last day of the campaign, a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday found 34 percent of likely voters might still change their minds. A sudden movement of support from Hevesi and Vallone to either of the other two candidates could be pivotal.

Turnout is crucial as well. Primaries over the past decade have drawn vastly different levels of voter interest. In 1993 and 1997, Democratic primaries drew less than 25 percent of eligible voters.

But in 1989, when David Dinkins defeated the incumbent Edward Koch, a full 50 percent of voters came out. Dinkins went on to win the general election and become the city's first black mayor.

The unprecedented number of candidates due to term limits could affect turnout. About 250 candidates are seeking offices, from City Council to citywide offices such as public advocate and comptroller. Voter registration has reached 3.6 million this year, with about 70 percent of them Democrats.