It may have taken him a while to hop aboard, but Mayor Giuliani is now firmly on Mike Bloomberg’s mayoral campaign train.
In a 10-minute stint yesterday on WABC radio, Giuliani devoted two full minutes to promoting Bloomberg’s candidacy.
“He understands the economy. He understands business. He understands how to create jobs because he’s done it,” Giuliani told his listeners.
“If there was a committee established of professionals to select someone for this job and the choice were between [Bloomberg and Democrat Mark Green], there’s no question they would select Mike.”
Giuliani’s official endorsement of his would-be GOP successor came just a week ago – a mere 10 days before the polls open on Tuesday.
Some Republicans were openly questioning why the mayor waited so long.
One reason, of course, is that Giuliani does things on his own schedule, not someone else’s.
But the mayor’s timing could prove a blessing for Bloomberg in the end.
The latest Marist College poll shows Bloomberg within four percentage points of Green among likely voters.
One insider pointed out that when Giuliani crossed party lines in 1994 to endorse Democrat Mario Cuomo for governor, Cuomo’s stock soared – and then faded in the 15-day interval before Election Day.
“He did it too early,” said the insider. “You want to do it when people are paying the most attention.”
Since last week, Giuliani has cut two commercials for Bloomberg, has invited him over to his World Series box in Yankee Stadium and has allowed Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to suggest he might stay in a Bloomberg administration.
Yesterday, a senior government official declared Giuliani would be interested in serving on a new commission to redevelop lower Manhattan – but only if Bloomberg wins Tuesday.
Still, it appears unlikely that Giuliani will campaign at Bloomberg’s side.
The mayor said yesterday he was anxious to carve some time out of lengthy work schedule today – but for baseball, not politics.
If he can arrange a quick turnaround, Giuliani said, he’d like to go to Arizona to watch the sixth game of the World Series.