Mayor Bloomberg was eating elephant-shaped cookies in the cafeteria of the Marriott Meridian in Times Square with a couple of dozen hotel service workers last week. It was a typical event heralding the arrival of the Republican National Convention.

It was going well until a reporter asked Mr. Bloomberg if being a Republican had changed him in any way.

The mayor looked uncomfortable. Workers stopped nibbling on their cookies to listen to Mr. Bloomberg address the other elephant in the room: He’s a new Republican – he switched parties to avoid a messy Democratic primary runoff in the 2001 mayoral race – and he’s going to be seeking re-election next year in a decidedly Democratic town.

“I haven’t changed at all,” the mayor told the reporter, adding that the focus on politics ahead of the convention is misguided. For New York City, what the convention brings is some $265 million in economic activity, 1,200 jobs, and countless bookings at hotels and restaurants that might otherwise have gone wanting without the more than 5,000 delegates (and 15,000 members of the press corps) in town.

Republican leaders and Mr. Bloomberg appear to have struck a pact. The party will keep Mr. Bloomberg’s party duties light – and his Republican profile low – and the mayor will make sure that police keep delegates safe, protesters grouse peacefully, and when the balloons drop on Thursday night, the convention will have gone off without a hitch.

“This week is not only going to be great for the visitors but it is going to be great for the city,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters during a press conference on Broadway yesterday as delegates used complimentary tickets to get into seven top-rated shows on the Great White Way. “The benefits of hosting this convention are immense. Virtually all the convention has been paid for by private donations, so this is a very big win for the city.”

That has been the mayor’s mantra for months. He will continue his study in low-profile Republican politics all week. He speaks to the delegates from the podium at 11 a.m. this morning, a slot that will have him flying below the radar of the national media and even out of earshot of many of the delegates, who will be only just straggling in at that hour having been given theater tickets and dinner discounts for last night.

The speech is being crafted, in part, by the president of the RNC Host Committee, Bloomberg confidant Kevin Sheekey, who says the speech will be more about welcoming visitors than offering endorsements. Mr. Bloomberg is also expected to continue his “New York First” theme by renewing his call for more federal funding to protect the city.

“He is doing everything in his power to be the gracious host,” said a Baruch College professor of public policy, Doug Muzzio. “It is not only good personal politics for him, it is good policy.”

Mr. Bloomberg is lending his name to three events during the convention. On August 31, he will co-host the Re publican Majority for Choice party at the Sky Room.

Yesterday he co-hosted the Congressional Hispanic Conference on the lawn of Gracie Mansion and then went to a party at the Bryant Park Grill thrown by the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay and lesbian group that has yet to endorse President Bush.

“As the host of this event I want to tell you that three years ago I used this occasion to come out – as a Republican,” Mr. Bloomberg joked to the audience. “The politics of inclusion are just as important as they were back in Lincoln’s day. And I am for that regardless of whether that happens to be politically correct or not.”

The former president of the New York chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, James Wagstaff, gushed about the mayor and what he had done for New York while he had been in office. “He is one of America’s most inclusive mayors, I am not sure people understand that,” Mr. Wagstaff said. “He’s doing what he needs to do this week, to put New York’s best foot forward, and he’s doing what he needs to do for the city. It is safer, it is cleaner, he’s a good manager, and he’s proving that every day.”

Those are the kind of reviews Mr. Bloomberg will need next year.