MARKET WATCH COLUMNIST
“Opponents? What Opponents?” Ellis Henican Column, am/New York, August 29, 2009
He’s the candidate of the Ego Party now.
Mike Bloomberg took a moment to cast his gaze upon the field of dreamers running to replace him at City Hall. And what exactly caught the mayor’s eye?
A whole lot of nothin’.
“I’m not running against anybody,” he declared.
Not anybody?
“I’m running on a record, and I’m trying to lay out the things I will do if given another opportunity.”
Opponents? Ha!
This one-man race, of course, came as something of a surprise to city Comptroller Bill Thompson, who thought he was running for mayor, too. In fact, Thompson’s been out making speeches, debating issues, raising money, snagging endorsements and doing all the other grunt work that running for political office normally entails.
“Mike Bloomberg’s claim that the Thompson campaign doesn’t exist is similar to his attitude towards 95 percent of New York City — they don’t exist to him,” huffed Thompson spokeswoman Anne Fenton.
Bloomberg’s self-centered assertion may carry a bit more weight in the case of Queens Councilman Tony Avella, who like Thompson is on the ballot for the Democratic primary Sept. 15, where the polls now put him 30 points back. And the mayor’s me-all-me analysis is technically accurate as it applies to U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who was running but isn’t any more.
But it takes a rare bravado not just to dismiss one’s opponents but to suggest they aren’t even there.
For now, that’s the Bloomberg strategy. Sit out the Democratic primary. Run as an independent. Take a pass on Wednesday’s debate. Insist you didn’t even watch.
“I’m not going to face either of them in the [primary] election,” he said of Thompson and Avella.
“I’m going to answer the questions and say why I should deserve the opportunity to serve this public for four more years.”
As for his non-opponents?
“They’ve got to make the case that they’re not just political animals, that they are people who can do things and bring skills to the job and the right temperament.”
Whoever they may be.
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