The real Joe Lhota has returned.
The GOP underdog in the race for mayor has hit the reset button on his subdued campaign and gone back to his straight-talking self following an aggressive performance in Tuesday night’s debate against Democratic front-runner Bill de Blasio.
“I’m back!” Lhota exclaimed Wednesday. Asked where he went, the normally candid Lhota simply said, “I don’t know.”
The debate turned confrontational after de Blasio said Lhota’s most recent ad attacking de Blasio on crime was “race baiting.” “I was shocked! I was shocked!” Lhota declared. “He threw out the race card as if it was 25 cents in his pocket.”
In a Midtown speech Wednesday, Lhota charged that de Blasio had to assume part of the blame for the “tale of two cities” that has become his campaign theme, since he’s been working in government for more than two decades.
After the speech Lhota compared himself to an unlikely figure for a candidate who is a self-professed Yankee fan — Red Sox slugger David “Big Papi” Ortiz.
“I think I’m going to win,” Lhota said. “Look, if Papi can get a grand slam in last week’s game up in Boston, so can I.”
He also chastised de Blasio for featuring his multiracial family so prominently in campaign ads.
“He’s using his family because he has no policies,” claimed Lhota, who’s down more than 40 points in the polls.
Hours after Lhota spoke, People magazine’s latest issue came out featuring the de Blasios as the new “modern family.”
In the article, de Blasio admits that his “good, liberal” Italian mother had the “longest pause in history” when he told her he was dating his now-wife, Chirlane, who is black.
But that soon changed.
“By the end of her life, my mom thought Chirlane walked on water,” de Blasio told People.
His daughter, Chiara, a college sophomore, also bristled at allegations that her dad is using the family to get votes.
“People have said my dad is ‘using’ his family to pander to black voters,” Chiara said. “It’s important for people to know our family is genuine.”