Mayor Bloomberg took a break from his duties at City Hall yesterday to report for jury duty in Lower Manhattan, and after a full day on Centre Street was told to report back for service again today.

Mr. Bloomberg spent part of the morning in Room 452 at state Supreme Court filling out forms and watching an orientation video with his fellow jurors, before his name was drawn for a group of 40 sent to be questioned on a case involving an asbestos claim.

Sitting in the front row of his panel with a cup of coffee and a stack of magazines (Time, BusinessWeek, and U.S. News & World Report), Mr. Bloomberg assured the lawyers in the case that he could be fair. At the end of the day, he was dismissed and told to report back again this morning. While Mr. Bloomberg attempted to blend in (he declined an offer to sit in the judge’s chambers during a break), he couldn’t help but stand out: Fellow jurors requested autographs and his security detail and press secretary were close at hand in the courtroom. Some reporters even provided blow-by-blow Web log postings every time Mr. Bloomberg whispered something to his neighbor or was asked to change seats.

A woman at the courthouse, Suzanne Lehman, followed Mr. Bloomberg to the fourth floor to get his autograph after spotting him in the lobby early in the morning. “I had to, had to, had to say hello,” Ms. Lehman said.

The judge overseeing the jury selection in the asbestos case greeted Mr. Bloomberg by calling him “Mr. Mayor,” but as Mr. Bloomberg was taking his seat, she told the others in the room that he’s “the same as any other juror.” The plaintiff’s attorney, James Long, said: “If I seem a little nervous give me a break. Let’s try to make this as normal as we possibly can.”

Mr. Long asked Mr. Bloomberg whether he thought he would sway the others if picked.

“I would be one voice of six, but I’ve got a strong personality so you’d have to ask them,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

Mr. Bloomberg’s spokesman, Stuart Loeser, said the mayor served on juries in 1981, 1988, and 1992.

He is not the first public official to be called to serve. In 1996, all occupational exemptions from jury duty were abolished in New York State; in1999, Mayor Giuliani was a jury foreman in a week-long trial.

In 1996, President Bush, who then was governor of Texas, was excused from jury duty on the grounds that he had the power to pardon the accused in a drunk-driving case. The prosecutor in the case has said he now believes Mr. Bush “directly deceived” him in order to avoid making public a 1976 conviction for drunk driving. A juror, Tina Goody, who was seated next to the mayor for much of the day, said he was “just a normal human being.”

If Mr. Bloomberg is dismissed today, he will be exempt from serving on a state court jury for six years, but will still be eligible to serve in a federal court.

“It’s part of democracy. It makes you feel pretty good,” Mr. Bloomberg said before darting off to a business meeting during his hour-long lunch break.