Mayor Bats Down Talk of Spitzer Challenge
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Mayor Bloomberg yesterday flatly denied reports that he is mulling a challenge to Governor Spitzer in 2010.
Mr. Bloomberg disputed a report in the New York Post, which cited an anonymous Republican source as saying the mayor has raised the possibility of challenging Mr. Spitzer in recent weeks.
“I have never had a conversation about it,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters. “I think the closest I’d ever come was maybe two years ago, when they were looking for candidates; somebody said, ‘Would you run?’ and I said ‘No, thank you, I have no interest whatsoever.'”
The mayor, who is regularly named as a possible 2008 presidential candidate, said the article was a “made-up story” that his office was not even called for comment on.
He then went on to praise Mr. Spitzer, who reminded him yesterday morning of “just how cold it is in Oswego County in the middle of winter,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
Despite the denials, some say a Bloomberg gubernatorial campaign is not all that unrealistic. A former parks commissioner, Henry Stern, wrote yesterday that the “tale has certain plausibility.” He called it a “trial balloon” and said “the idea makes enough sense to resonate in some people’s minds.”
Mr. Bloomberg has also denied reports that he plans to run as a third-party candidate for president, but he often jokes about that idea, which fans the political flames. This time, he left none of that wiggle room.
Messrs. Bloomberg and Spitzer, who are neighbors on the Upper East Side, have locked horns on several issues since the governor took office. And Mr. Bloomberg has made clear that he believes his no-nonsense, bottom line approach has transformed the city government.
A professor of public administration at Columbia University, Steven Cohen, said Mr. Bloomberg would be a “formidable challenger” to Mr. Spitzer, largely because he has been so popular in a city where 8 million New York State residents live.
“Bloomberg could marshal financial and political support,” Mr. Cohen said. “If I were Eliot Spitzer, and Bloomberg was making noises about running, I would pay attention.”
