Ferrer To Step Down from Think Tank

Mayoral hopeful Fernando Ferrer announced yesterday that he would step down from the Drum Major Institute to concentrate on his bid to unseat Mayor Bloomberg in the November elections full-time.“Under Freddy’s leadership, DMI has helped shape the conversation about the future of America’s middle class and those who want to work their way to the American Dream,” the chairman of the think tank, Andrew Young, wrote in an e-mail announcing Mr. Ferrer’s resignation as DMI president. “We wish him the very best as he pursues the next chapter in a lifetime dedicated to serving the public good.”Mr. Young is a former mayor of Atlanta and ambassador to the United Nations.Political analysts said they weren’t surprised by Mr. Ferrer’s decision, since he has of late been working only part-time on his mayoral race. “It is a smart move for him to make,” a political consultant, Evan Stavisky, said. “It allows him to concentrate his efforts on his political future. I don’t think anyone expected him to stay at the institute forever.”If the latest polls are to be believed, Mr. Ferrer’s next chapter may well begin as the new mayor of New York. A poll of registered voters by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion earlier this month found that 53% of the sample said they thought it was time for a new mayor and only 42% would vote to re-elect Mr. Bloomberg. The rest said they were undecided.With the race that tight, even a year before the election, Messrs. Bloomberg and Ferrer are waging a war of perceptions.Mr. Bloomberg wants his re-election to seem inevitable. To that end, the mayor will begin rolling out endorsements from traditionally Democratic bastions in the coming weeks. On Sunday, for example, he plans to go out to a senior center in Jamaica, Queens, to accept the endorsement of Rev. Floyd Flake, senior pastor of the nearby Allen A.M.E. Church. Mr. Flake, a former Democratic member of Congress, has thrown his support in the past behind Mayors Koch and Dinkins, as well as Mayor Giuliani. His support of Mr. Bloomberg could provide at least a symbolic boost as the mayor seeks to win over black voters.Mr. Ferrer, meanwhile, is trying to position himself as the presumptive winner in a crowded field of Democratic challengers.In an interview with The New York Sun, Mr. Ferrer said he wasn’t surprised by Mr. Flake’s decision. “That said, I won’t be kicking off an event in a house of worship,” Mr. Ferrer said yesterday. “I plan to do something that I hope will capture something of what I am trying to say to the city.”The former Bronx borough president will need to accomplish two other things first: He needs to choose a campaign manager and he needs to raise as much money as he can between now and the end of January, when candidates will file their fund-raising reports with the Campaign Finance Board. Part and parcel of painting a picture of inevitability is raising more money than other candidates in the race.“I have a short-list of campaign managers in my head,” Mr. Ferrer told the Sun, declining to be more specific.The speculation is that Senator Clinton’s political guru, Howard Wolfson, is on that list. A former leader of the Bronx Democratic Party, Robert Ramirez, now a powerhouse lobbyist and political strategist, will most likely be working with Mr. Ferrer as strategist and grassroots organizer. Council Speaker Gifford Miller has gone to a national political figure, Mandy Grunwald, for his campaign, and that, analysts said, could inspire Mr. Ferrer to do the same.“There is no reason to push for this to happen all that soon,” a Baruch College political-science professor, Douglas Muzzio, said. “I am guessing we’ll see some sort of blow-out announcement in February. It depends on what ends up as his judgment of what will make for the maximal impact.”Mr. Bloomberg’s team, too, is still taking shape. Clearly, his close confidants Kevin Sheekey and Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris will play key roles. Mr. Sheekey would be the mayor’s man on the ground and would be dealing with strategy. Ms. Harris would probably function as a chief of staff.“Everything between these announcements will be geared toward Bloomberg saying that there is no one who can beat him,” Mr. Muzzio said. “Freddie is doing that on the level of the primary, and Bloomberg has the luxury of doing that as the incumbent.”Mr. Ferrer will have to fight on two fronts, he continued. He has to have an eye on Mr. Bloomberg but also watch his left flank, where a number of Democratic hopefuls are counting on an upset. Mr. Miller, Rep. Anthony Weiner of Brooklyn, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, and Councilman Charles Barron of Brooklyn have all been raising money to run in the primary.

Ferrer To Step Down from Think Tank

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