NYT,pg1: Influential NYC Democrats Line Up With Mayor Bloomberg

[DeepModem Mom]

Influential Democrats Line Up With Mayor
By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: July 26, 2005


....(Statements of support) from the high rollers of Democratic Party politics are sending chills through local party leaders, who are seeing many of their biggest donors publicly supporting the mayor this campaign year - and keeping their money in the bank.

Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire, does not need their financial help since he is paying for his own campaign, but he does need their declarations of support to signal to rank-and-file Democrats that they can vote for a Republican this time....

***

With a candidate like Mr. Bloomberg who pays his own way, the message is clear: The best way to show support is to keep your money in your pocket. And Mr. Bloomberg's list has far more names from the opposing party's elite than his Republican predecessors did, and they are names that would top any Democratic presidential candidate's fund-raising list....

***

In the last two weeks the mayor has won the endorsements of the city's leading abortion rights group, Naral Pro-Choice New York, and the city's largest municipal union, District Council 37, two organizations that have traditionally supported Democrats.

Aides to the four major candidates in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary said Ms. Duff and the other big donors represented only the city's elite, the voters who may identify with Mr. Bloomberg personally but do not decide elections here. The Democratic aides feel that rank-and-file voters will not be swayed by the donors, and that the Democrats who matter will be there when it counts....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/26/nyregion/metrocampaigns/26democrats.html?oref=login

[goclark]

1. Kick

[bemildred]

2. Kinda lets you know which side everybody is really on. nt

[geek tragedy]

3. Bloomberg is a RINO. Easily more liberal than the DLC.

In the South or Midwest, he'd be considered a liberal Democrat. He only ran as a Rethug because the Republican nomination for mayor could be bought.

That's no excuse, of course . . .