He wasn’t on the ballot, but Mayor Bloomberg tossed the biggest rally of any candidate running last night in an awesome display of political might that drew thousands of chanting supporters to a sprawling Hudson pier party.
“Four more years! Four more years!” roared the crowd at Pier 94, where they got to enjoy unlimited free wine, beer and snacks before Bloomberg took the stage to lay out the central theme of his third-term campaign — “progress, not politics.”
Democratic rival Bill Thompson was never mentioned by name.
But there was no mistaking that he was the intended target when the mayor ripped into those tied to “politics as usual,” who, he said, are engaged in “finger-pointing, partisan attacks, rewarding special interests, accepting the status quo.”
“There’s a steep cost to politics as usual — in failure, neglect, corruption, dysfunction, waste. And the middle class always gets stuck with the bill,” Bloomberg went on.
Twice, he was interrupted by outbursts of “Four more years!”
Supporters marveled that the elaborate party resembled an event worthy of a presidential campaign.
Forty-five buses ushered supporters to the event from all parts of the city.
Long Island wine and Brooklyn-brewed lager flowed. Hotdogs, popcorn and ice cream were served. Four Jumbotrons surrounded the stage.
While the Bloomberg campaign declined to say how much the event cost, the bill for the bash clearly was far more than the $171,000 Thompson raised in campaign contributions over the past six weeks.
“We were hoping for 2,500 people tonight, but it looks like we got twice as many! Fantastic!” Bloomberg said.
In fact, the crowd was so big that Bloomberg’s campaign hired dozens of security personnel, and a private ambulance was parked nearby in case of an emergency.
In his speech, Bloomberg repeatedly claimed that he was the protector of the middle class, the largest voting bloc and the one Thompson is assiduously courting.
“We can’t forget that it was ‘politics as usual’ that inflicted so much pain on our middle class by ruining the public-school system, letting crime get out of control, allowing our subways to break down and our parks to suffer,” the mayor declared.