Mayor Bloomberg is pulling out all the stops to appeal to the minorities, and today's rumor that he's hired Brian Ellner to join his campaign proves that he wants to show he's a Democrat in Republican's clothing. And suddenly, the Mayor's Republican supporters reach for their Zantac. But this could be the start of a brilliant new ad: Mayor Bloomberg stepping out with his girlfriend Diana Taylor and Ellner with his partner Simon.

In other campaign news, it's all about terror and the lack of money Fernando Ferrer has. First, the terror: Ferrer wants the Mayor to give more details about the terror alert that was raised and then lowered, as some New Yorkers wonder if the terror alert was an elaborate ruse to distract the media from the debate the Mayor didn't attend. And on money: The Post reports that the Democratic National Committee hasn't made good on an earlier $1 million pledge to help Ferrer; while DNC Chairman Howard Dean has campaigned with Ferrer, Dean says the pledge was made before he became chairman. The NY Times has an article about city Democrats who contributed to Ferrer's 2001 campaign not ponying up money this time around. But, hey, as a Times editorial argued last week, Bloomberg's wealth "makes Mr. Ferrer look like a sympathetic underdog."

On a final note, the Politicker followed the Mayor to the Columbus Day Parade and got this gem of an insight about what he thought about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia: "He's a Supreme Court Judge." The Politicker also says Bloomberg was marching as far as possible from Scalia in the parade.