JUSIPER

 
Bye, bye Freddy

Posted by Sini

Fifteen points behind in the polls, lost endorsements, and now evidence that the Clintons aren't about to pull out all the stops for the old coalition breaker.

Yet concerns are coursing through his team, particularly that doubts about his political viability could slow his modest fund-raising pace even further and leave him with less money to hone his message on television and radio. Reflecting that point, Mr. Ferrer's aides rolled out a new commercial on Wednesday in hopes of swamping the bad news - yet they did not spend money to immediately extend the purchase of television time beyond yesterday. (Last night, in a turn of good news, the Ferrer campaign received $947,121 from the city in campaign matching funds.)

All of this comes as Mr. Ferrer, who had been on a post-primary roll with political endorsements, lost an important prize Tuesday night: the vote-getting ballot line of New York's Working Families Party, which the Ferrer campaign had been aggressively lobbying for support. The party ended up nominally endorsing Mr. Ferrer, but Mayor Bloomberg won out by keeping the ballot line vacant, thanks to several party leaders who support him.

Two polls, conducted after Mr. Ferrer was nominated, have shown the mayor with a double-digit lead.

"To beat an incumbent who has very broad approval ratings like Mayor Bloomberg, an opponent has to make a very compelling case about why voters are now going to change regimes," said Harold M. Ickes, a Democratic political consultant who advised Mr. Ferrer during his 2001 mayoral bid. "That hasn't happened with Freddy, at least not yet. And it needs to, especially with the huge disparity of resources in Bloomberg's favor."

Mr. Ickes, who has also worked for the two most influential Democrats in New York, former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, said he was not aware if they shared his views on mayoral campaign strategy. Yet several Democrats noted yesterday that Mr. Clinton, who works in Harlem and lives in Westchester County, campaigned yesterday in New Jersey for the Democratic nominee for governor, Jon S. Corzine. The former president has yet to appear with Mr. Ferrer, nor has his estimable political appetite led to regular chats with Mr. Ferrer about strategy akin to those with Democratic candidates during last year's presidential race.

"Clinton will be out there at some point with Ferrer, but you get the sense with both the president and Senator Clinton that they generally feel the mayor has done a good job," said one Democratic operative who speaks regularly to both Clintons.

2:08 PM |