Bloomberg, Obama Meet for Breakfast Chat in Midtown

For someone who says he is not running for president, Mayor Bloomberg is certainly basking in the national political limelight, meeting a Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Obama, for breakfast at a midtown Manhattan luncheonette yesterday before a throng of reporters.

They talked about the economy, education, homeland security, and global warming, an aide to Mr. Obama said. Mr. Bloomberg's staff had offered Mr. Obama, who was in town Thursday for a round of fund-raisers including one at Harlem's Apollo Theater, a standing invitation to meet for coffee, the aide said.

Both men believe there is too much game playing in Washington and not enough problem-solving, the aide said.

Messrs. Bloomberg and Obama faced each other at a table against a street-side window on East 50th Street and Lexington Avenue at the New York Luncheonette. Occasionally motioning their hands as they spoke, Mr. Obama ate eggs over easy and wheat toast and Mr. Bloomberg had scrambled eggs and white toast.

Their waitress, Judith Perez, said Mr. Obama paid the $17.43 bill and left a $10 tip. She said she did not overhear what the men discussed.

The pair last met in January, when the mayor testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs about the need for homeland security funding to be based on threat levels, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, Stuart Loeser, said.

Mr. Bloomberg last saw Senator Clinton on September 11, 2007 and the last time they met was in March with Senators Schumer and Kennedy.

Mr. Bloomberg, who ran for mayor twice as a Republican, left the party in June and appears to enjoy fanning speculation that he will enter the presidential race as an independent. He is embarking on a trip to Bali and China next month and recently appeared on the cover of Newsweek for an article that casts him as a likely presidential candidate.

On Wednesday, Mr. Bloomberg dined with Senator Hagel, a Republican of Nebraska, but unlike yesterday's breakfast, that dinner was not publicized. Reporters were notified about yesterday's meeting just after midnight last night.

Mary Elizabeth Morley, who was in town from Chicago to celebrate her 70th birthday, had a view of Messrs. Bloomberg and Obama from her seat in the restaurant, where she was dining with her daughter. Ms. Morley said would vote for Mr. Obama in the primary.

"I think he's a breath of fresh air," she said.

She said she didn't have the slightest idea what the pair was discussing. "I imagine it has something to do with the big city," she said.