Mayor Bloomberg had more than the luck of the Irish on his side yesterday as he marched in the city’s 243rd annual St. Patrick’s Day parade: He was walking with someone would could give him a political boost, Mayor Giuliani.

Eight months before the general election, it was difficult to see Mr. Giuliani’s presence at the parade as anything other than an attempt to make a political point. Mr. Bloomberg received Mr. Giuliani’s key endorsement at the tail end of the 2001 campaign, a move that most analysts said helped put the billionaire over the top in the election.

This time out, Mr. Giuliani has made clear whom he is supporting early in the campaign season. “Of course I support him,” the former mayor told a small group of reporters when asked whether his presence indicated an endorsement for Mr. Bloomberg. Mr. Giuliani did not march with the mayor last year.

Regardless of whether Mr. Giuliani’s presence was intended as a political move, it was clear that the crowd was happy to see the two leaders walking side-by-side up Fifth Avenue. “Irish for Mike” signs were waved and blushing women held banners that read: “Kiss me, Mike, I’m Irish.” (As far as reporters could see, he didn’t oblige.)

Signs notwithstanding, the star of the parade was clearly Mr. Giuliani. “Rudy! Rudy! Come over here,” a group of revelers called as the former mayor made his way to barriers. “Rudy, we want you back,” screamed another. Mr. Bloomberg looked bemused.

There couldn’t be a parade in New York without some controversy, and this year’s centered on a Fire Department order prohibiting members from wearing their green berets in lieu of the regular caps, as well as a new dust-up over the death of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African man who was killed by police in 1999.

The Fire Department, which has been criticized for some of the recent conduct of its members, issued an order on March 4 saying that those who marched in the St. Patrick’s Day parade could do so only in blue dress uniform, including their official cap. The order banned the green berets the officers had been donning for more than 30 years to remember fallen firefighters.

Firefighters were furious. Mr. Bloomberg defended Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta’s decision, saying it was an issue of respecting the uniform. To protest, hundreds of firefighters in civilian clothes assembled on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and booed the mayor as he strode past.

The protest was meaningful, given that it was almost the only dissent Mr. Bloomberg had to endure yesterday.

One of those who is determined to take his job in November, Fernando Ferrer, was not so fortunate. The former Bronx borough president was in damage-control mode after comments he made to members of a police union earlier this week related to the 1999 shooting of an unarmed man named Amadou Diallo at the hands of four police officers.

Mr. Ferrer said the Diallo killing was “not a crime” and that there was an attempt to “over-indict” the police officers responsible. The comments seemed to fly in the face of what Mr. Ferrer said at the time of the killing. He had been a vocal critic of the police department after Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, was killed by police. The officers were later acquitted by a jury.

Mr. Bloomberg, who was in Israel when Mr. Ferrer made the comments, yesterday got his first opportunity to take a swipe at his rival. He took a pass. “This was a great tragedy and I am not going to politicize it,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters. Ferrer “has got to explain what he said and we’ll go on.”

Mr. Giuliani kept to the same script, saying the police were found “not guilty by a jury” and that the Diallo murder was “part of our history now.”

Having skated past the two potential hot-button issues, the mayor focused yesterday on being affable. He kissed babies, he waved to well-wishers, he waded into crowds at the barricades: all the things politicians (and particularly those vying for re-election) do at this time of year.

“My vote is still up in the air,” a Riverdale resident, Florence Baldasare, said as she stood in a green knit cap toward the end of the parade route and waved at the mayor. “I don’t like his idea for the stadium. He got my vote last time because he came right up on my porch and shook my hand. This time, well, I am not so sure.”

A friend, Eileen Hatch, agreed. “My husband works for the Housing Authority and hasn’t had a new union contract and no raise for at least two years,” she said.

“Bloomberg needs to get these contracts done. Then I will think about voting for him.” Then she brightened. “It’s nice that Rudy came out.”