Mayoral Debate Brings Out Fiercer Attacks

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The New York Sun

Mayor Bloomberg and Fernando Ferrer headed into the final week of the mayoral campaign by stepping up their attacks on each other in what was scheduled to be their final face-to-face debate.


Mr. Bloomberg chided his Democratic opponent for “complaining” and “never coming up with solutions,” while Mr. Ferrer referred to several of the mayor’s positions as “nuts.”


The debate, which aired on WNBC last night, was feistier than the candidates’ first matchup, on Sunday, but there were few moments of brilliance and no catastrophic blunders, political analysts said.


The debate offered some new insights into the candidates’ positions and styles.


In his most extensive answer yet about his views on the Iraq war, Mr. Bloomberg said that while there was a “massive intelligence failure” that led the country into war, “walking away at this point,” before the country could maintain the peace, would be an “outrage.” Mr. Ferrer said it was time to bring the troops home “as promptly as possible.”


Mr. Bloomberg, who in the past has criticized his opponent for not doing enough while he was president of the Bronx, last night ramped up that line of attack.


“I think everybody does know what my opponent stands for,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “He stands for complaining. He stands for identifying problems and never coming up with solutions. That’s different from governing. It’s easy to be a critic. It is very hard to lead.”


Mr. Ferrer let few of the mayor’s answers slide. He attacked Mr. Bloomberg for his ties to the Republican Party, echoing his campaign’s new cartoon-style advertisement this week; he criticized the city’s high school graduation rates, and he called the Atlantic Yards development project, which the mayor is backing, a “boondoggle.”


“Why are there secret memos emerging about the city guaranteeing to condemn a property called site 5 that’ll give this developer 2,600 units of luxury … with tax breaks from the city,” Mr. Ferrer said. “That’s nuts!”


Mr. Ferrer also took the mayor to task for not agreeing to debate him more. “C’mon, we’ve still got a week to do this,” he said. Mr. Bloomberg said: “Having a debate about debates is not a good use of this time.”


Some of the biggest sparks of the night came over the high school graduation rate, an issue that has been a sticking point for the last several weeks because the candidates have been homing in on different numbers. That issue came to a head when the mayor was asked to clarify the 50% drop out rate statistic cited by the city school chancellor, Joel Klein, during an interview. “Joel was wrong,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “He meant to talk about the graduation rate. The graduation rate was 50%. It’s gone up to 54%.”


Mr. Bloomberg said he thought the military should be able to recruit in schools. If businesses and other employers are allowed in, the military should be afforded the same right, he said. Mr. Ferrer said they should not.


Perhaps the only thing the two men had in common last night was the dark pinstriped suits they were wearing.


When they were given a chance to ask each other questions Mr. Bloomberg asked Mr. Ferrer whether he thought all the major newspapers in the city, including The New York Sun, were wrong for endorsing him.


“If I’m not the candidate of the people in the boardrooms, then I’m proud to be the candidate of the kids in the classrooms of this city,” Mr. Ferrer said.


A professor of public affairs at Baruch College, David Birdsell, said there weren’t any “nuclear gaffes” that would move polls number in any substantial way. “We’re looking at a 28 point gap with 8% of voters undecided,” he said. “If all 8% were to go one way the result would still be the same.”


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