Even though the four main Democratic mayoral hopefuls debated yesterday, the election big news is how Mayor Bloomberg has spent $10 million so far in his re-election campaign. A 10-day ad blitz will begin midweek, and the NY Times reports that the ads will "stress 9/11 and leadership." However, the "mindboggling" thing is millions have been spent to get demographic and psychographic information from a polling firm to delve into the pysches of New Yorkers. The Mayor's opponents had various comments about the Mayor being able to spend like a maniac since he's not privy to campaign finance laws, such as how he's buying the election, he must not be confident if he has to spend so much, that he's totally out of touch with the constituency; the Democratic hopefuls have, at most, raised $500,000 in the past two months while the Mayor put over $6 million into his campaign in the same period. Giving his positive approval numbers these days, we expect the Mayor to attempt to say the course as the frontrunner, with his staff emphasizing though the Mayor is rich, he still rides the subway!
As for the Democratic debate, which airs tomorrow at 11AM on CBS, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields got aggressive, former Bronx Beep Fernando Ferrer tried to regain ground, Representative Anthony Weiner was his usual punchy self, and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller was least critical.
