Bloomberg Quickly Confronts Ferrer With Show of Force
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Fernando Ferrer won a major battle this week when he collected concessions from each of his three Democratic opponents for mayor, but even as the former Bronx president basked in an apparent victory yesterday, it became increasingly clear that the struggle against the Republican incumbent, Mayor Bloomberg, would not be an easy one.
Before Rep. Anthony Weiner conceded, the mayor was already out on the campaign trail, with a show of force aimed directly at Mr. Ferrer – and his campaign wallet. Mr. Bloomberg, whose approval ratings in recent public opinion polls have soared above 60%, joined a group of wealthy and powerful Democrats on Broadway at 72nd Street to announce the formation of Democrats for Bloomberg.
The group’s chairmen are Steven Rattner, former economic adviser to the Kerry and Gore campaigns and a former finance chairman for Senator Schumer, and the former president of Queens, Claire Shulman.
Mr. Rattner said members of the group “honor and love” their party, but he said: “This election is not about party labels and it’s not about national politics. It’s about New York. It’s about reelecting a mayor who took hold of our city at its most difficult moment and led us forward.”
Another prominent Democrat who supports Mr. Bloomberg, but was not present, Mayor Koch, said he thinks the support for the incumbent by so many well-off and influential Democrats should “deprive Mr. Ferrer of money that he might otherwise have gotten.”
In the primary campaign, Mr. Ferrer could spend only $5.7 million. In the general election, there is no spending cap, because Mr. Ferrer is running against a self-financing candidate – a billionaire who has already reported spending more than $23 million on his re-election effort even though his two announced Republican opponents failed to qualify for the primary. Mr. Ferrer is eligible for public matching funds, on a six-to-one basis, for many of the contributions he receives for the fall campaign.
Quietly, some Democrats who back Mr. Ferrer acknowledged that Mr. Bloomberg’s large and growing brigade of supporters who come from unions, the business community, and civic groups might make fund-raising difficult for Mr. Ferrer. Publicly, however, they forecasted smooth sailing.
“I think the mayor obviously has enormous resources at his disposal that he has been using and will continue to use. This is not a fair fight in that sense,” a Democratic political consultant, Howard Wolfson, said.
Referring to Mr. Ferrer, he said: “That’s probably the biggest challenge. He’s going to have to raise sufficient resources to get his message out.”
But Mr. Wolfson said: “This is a big city, with a lot of wealthy people who are willing to contribute to campaigns, and people who are not so wealthy who are willing to contribute to campaigns.”
He predicted that the Ferrer campaign would also try to raise money from outside New York City.
Already yesterday, there were signs that Mr. Wolfson’s prediction was coming true. The Ferrer campaign released statements from Senators Edwards and Kerry, who won overwhelming support from New Yorkers in 2004, praising the former Bronx borough president and saying they were happy to pitch in on the campaign.
In addition to the high-profile votes of support, Mr. Ferrer’s campaign announced it was hiring a new media consultant firm, Soapbox, which is run by John Prince, who was a senior adviser in the Clinton White House.