Nice round up of articles and blog posts about our endorsement of Bill Thompson for Mayor yesterday. Are we missing an informative link? Add it in the comments.
New York Times
Spurning Bloomberg, Working Families Party Backs Thompson
After weeks of intense lobbying – and groveling – he won the Republican Party ballot line. With a little finessing, and the promise of financial aid, he clinched the Independence Party line.
But Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg could not win over the Working Families Party, which on Thursday night handed its coveted ballot line to William C. Thompson Jr., the leading Democratic candidate for mayor.
Village Voice
Bloomberg Machine Hits Road Bump at Working Families
Despite a personal push by the mayor himself, the Working Families Party voted last night to deny Mike Bloomberg its nomination. Members also shot down the mayor’s second-best hope — that the party and its muscular organizing operation stay neutral in this year’s race.
The vote for Thompson came despite personal last-minute appeals that Bloomberg reportedly made to leaders of key city unions that sit on the Working Families endorsement committee. The pro-Thompson forces also prevailed over intense lobbying by Bloomberg aides and allies even during the vote last night at party headquarters in downtown Brooklyn.
“Bloomberg’s people were working the room all the way through the meeting, with people getting phone calls in real time, even as the vote was going on,” said one who was present.
The Daily News (Daily Politics)
Thompson Gets WFP Line (Updated)
Comptroller Bill Thompson has landed the endorsement of the labor-backed Working Families Party – a significant victory for the Democratic mayoral hopeful’s long-shot bid to unseat Mayor Bloomberg.
The WFP’s coordinating council meeting lasted for more than two hours and was at times contentious.
Gotham Gazette
A Win for Thompson
Four years ago, the party did not endorse in the mayoral race, which was widely seen as a victory for Bloomberg. But now, Cantor said, “As our city and nation tackle the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, standing on the sidelines is unacceptable.”
Gothamist
Thompson Gets Working Families Party Endorsement
After three mayoral candidates-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, and City Councilman Tony Avella-answered questions in a forum last week, the Working Families Party has endorsed Comptroller Thompson for mayor, though apparently the vote was “contentious.”
PolitickerNY
Team Bloomberg and the Working Families Party
A source there said the mayor’s people are “pushing, very very hard for an outright endorsement,” believing they can win it, and not just block Bill Thompson from getting it.
NY Post
Boost for Mike Foe
The floundering mayoral campaign of City Comptroller Bill Thompson got a boost last night with the backing of the Working Families Party. The left-leaning party’s support for Thompson, who scored its backing for comptroller in 2001 and 2005, was uncertain until moments before the vote was cast. Mayor Bloomberg, an independent running for reelection on the GOP line, was pushing hard to get the support of the party or, at least, to persuade the 50 voting members not to back Thompson, who is likely to be the Democratic nominee. It was one of Bloomberg’s few political losses this year. “As in last November’s election for president, it’s time for a new direction,” the party’s executive director, Dan Cantor, said after the vote, which sources said was close.
A Short Story – (Brooklyn)
WFP Endorses Thompson!
Bloomberg Watch
Working Families Party Saved Its Soul Tonight – Big Congratulations.
