New York, NY – With Some Coaching, Bloomberg Bites His Tongue on the Campaign Trail
- November 2, 2009 - ט"ו חשון תש"ע
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New York, NY – What a difference an election makes.
Mr. Bloomberg is many things, but warm and fuzzy is not among them. He can be blunt, dismissive and even crass at times, qualities that some New Yorkers have found refreshing. But this year, during the mayor’s controversial bid for a third term, his advisers have worked intensely to get him to restrain himself and watch what he says.
And Mr. Bloomberg, a former Boy Scout, has internalized that message so well that administration officials now often use the same word to describe the mayor’s behavior: muzzled.
“The campaign strategy is to protect Bloomberg from Bloomberg,” said one person close to the mayor who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize their relationship.
Mr. Bloomberg has not committed any major gaffes on the campaign trail. He has projected an upbeat mood, generally speaking, and has joked about his poor spelling skills and his age (67). He has not displayed his trademark snarkiness with reporters, even describing the journalist he earlier this year called a “disgrace” (Azi Paybarah of The New York Observer) as “brilliant.”
And with the election just hours away, that has left supporters of Mr. Bloomberg’s Democratic opponent, William C. Thompson Jr., frustrated.
Of course, the strategy has also relied on minimizing the chances for a nasty mayoral moment. Mr. Bloomberg’s news conferences are much shorter now. In recent weeks, he has fielded questions at a Hindu temple (about four minutes), a Red Hook port facility (almost six minutes) and an endorsement in Riverside Park (clocking in at nine minutes).
For several days last week, he did not have any formal question-and-answer sessions with reporters, until one was hastily added on Friday (10 minutes).
By contrast, some of his news conferences earlier this year were near marathons. In March, he fielded questions for 25 minutes after a speech to the Economic Club of New York. That same month, he took questions for 27 minutes at an event about water meters in Brooklyn.
“There’s been a concerted effort to attempt to trim the amount of endless conversation in front of folks,” said one Bloomberg adviser.
“The path to a defeat is through those kinds of slip-ups or any combativeness on his part.”
The Bloomberg campaign says that the mayor has not changed at all. He has been, according to Howard Wolfson, the campaign’s chief media strategist, “an incredibly disciplined and focused candidate, and I think you’ve seen it every day on the stump.”
But other campaign aides and supporters say that the mayor’s makeover was necessitated by several factors. One was the recognition, early on, that his re-election bid would not be as easy as his 2005 run. Some people were outraged over his push to overturn term limits. The economy was sputtering. And some people were lambasting Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire who is the richest man in New York, saying he favored developers and the wealthy at the expense of the poor and working class – ingredients, all, for populist outrage.
Then, in the spring, Mr. Bloomberg’s tartness came through on two high-profile occasions, reinforcing the image of him as out of touch and insensitive. In addition to telling Mr. Paybarah, who had asked about his rationale for changing term limits, that he was a disgrace, the mayor lashed out at another reporter, Michael Harris. Mr. Harris had accidentally turned on his tape recorder during a news conference, playing bits of an earlier political rally, and the mayor did not hold back, even when the City Council speaker pointed out that Mr. Harris was in a wheelchair. (The mayor later apologized.)
“I think there were people after the Azi and the Michael Harris incidents who said, ‘O.K., a couple more of those, and that’s an ad montage, and that could be trouble,’ ” said one veteran Democrat who has worked closely with the Bloomberg administration.
So over time, people close to Mr. Bloomberg – including Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris – urged him to do away with such outbursts, according to several aides and supporters.
“In a previous race it almost felt like it was a parade before the coronation,” said Councilman Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who has endorsed the mayor. “But this time around, with the economy being down, with some people being upset about the term limits issue and the challenges with anyone getting re-elected to a third term, it makes a lot more sense for him to be even more cautious and disciplined.”
Then again, Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign persona may well have an expiration date.
“It’s going to last until he wins,” said one Bloomberg supporter. “There’s no way they can bottle him up that long.”
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