Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki welcomed journalists to Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle Saturday night. Mayor Giuliani was on hand as were boxing promoter Don King and talk show host Larry King.

Mr. Bloomberg cooked potato pancakes in the back of the Williams-Sonoma shop on the ground floor. Fittingly, waitresses served drinks they called “Cosmopoliticians.”

Journalist/activist Danny Schechter, known as the “Media Dissector,” handed Richard Parsons of Time Warner an “Unofficial Media Guide to the 2004 Republican National Convention.” He accepted it graciously, Mr. Schechter said.

New York Resident editor in chief Mark Rifkin said his convention chair at Madison Square Garden is “not far from my Rangers seats.”

Stores were open for business, and some were raking it in. Spotted in Borders bookstore was Opinionjournal.com editor James Taranto; also seen was a journalist from the News Hour with Jim Lehrer perusing the new arrivals table.

Music resounded throughout the 150-foot-high foyer, as the ink-stained set devoured cuisine from New York eateries including Amy’s Bread, Patsy’s Italian Restaurant, Le Cirque, and Sushi Sambi.

Event staff wore orange Tshirts with colorful slogans such as “The city that never sleeps,” “Start spreading the news,” “Center of the universe,” “In a New York minute,” and the oh-so-welcoming phrase, “You talking to me?”

Near the entrance were performers from Matthew David Events, dressed as jesters. Their checkerboard colored outfits and mini-stilts entertained journalists, a number of whom were smoking outside.

Seen at the event were the Shuttle Sheet Washington editor Karen Feld; Salem Communications director of national news and public affairs David Spady; John Fund of the Wall Street Journal; National Journal’s Technology Daily senior writer Drew Clark; event volunteer David Adler, who is chief executive officer and founder of BizBash, talking with New York Post columnist Cindy Adams, who chatted with her pen at the ready. Also present were Joel Mowbray, author of “Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America’s Security” (Regnery), Ryan Sager of the New York Post; Jonathan Capehart of the New York Daily News; Lewis Lapham of Harper’s magazine, and others too numerous to mention.

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RIBALD REPUBLICANS

The following are jokes from “The Right Stuff” comedians appearing at the Laugh Factory in Time Square through September 2. Jeff “Big Daddy” Wayne says, “The Dems now have two Johns running – when that happens at my house I call a plumber”…Julia Gorin opines, “Hopefully, most Americans realize that Democrats don’t belong in the White House. They belong in art museums, in cafes, at literary readings and directing foreign film, not foreign policy.” Chris Warren says, “John Kerry walks into a bar…bartender says, “Hey John, why the long face?”

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PUNCTUATION POINT

Gill Foundation executive director Rodger Mc-Farlane and Chrissy Gephardt, daughter of Rep. Richard Gephardt, were among the panelists Friday at a “TimesTalks” forum on “Voices of the Gay and Lesbian Vote” at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. At one point, Mr. McFarlane pondered, “how one gets the words ‘gay’ and ‘Republican’ in the same sentence.” The audience roared when moderator Dudley Clendinen interjected, “a semicolon.”

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PRIVATIZATION POLICY

34th Street Partnership president Daniel Biederman was among the panelists at the Grand Hyatt Hotel when the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research hosted a conference on “Compassionate Conservative Policies That Changed New York City.”

The audience chuckled when Mr. Biederman said that in speaking around the country, he has to travel “at least as far as Harrisburg” and before he gets to the Sierras to use the word “privatization” in his speeches. In cities such as San Francisco or in the Blue states back East, he finds audiences tend to “instantly turn off” when they hear the word.

Where does his organization get ideas for running and decorating public restrooms in Bryant Park? “We have field trips to the Regency [hotel],” he said, to audience laughter, “You have to aim incredibly high.”

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TRAFFIC, TOUCHE!

New Yorkers are accustomed to gridlock, whether there’s a political convention in town or not. A driver recently picked up lawyer Mark Smith, author of “The Official Handbook of The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy” (Regnery) at his Murray Hill apartment, 40 minutes before an afternoon appearance on Fox News. Thrown by the traffic snarl created by a parade on Sixth Avenue and a street fair on Madison, the driver ended up hopelessly gridlocked on Fifth Avenue and 35th Street. Mr. Smith – a former semi-pro baseball player – got out of the car and dashed in his suit and tie to 47th and Sixth in time for the interview.

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KNICK-KNACKS

Tulsa-based software engineer Michael Bates arrived in town as an Oklahoma delegate. He blogs at www.batesline.com where he reported seeing the pro-Bush political theater group “Communists for Kerry” perform in “Soviet Union Square.” They shouted slogans such as “End the two Americas! Create one homogenous welfare state!” and “End tax cuts! Stop the menace known as ‘success’!”…Joke overheard relating to Governor McGreevey: Did you know New Jersey has a foreign policy? It’s media withdrawal from Golan.