New York City – The most nagging question among Bill Thompson’s supporters on Wednesday is this: What if fellow Democrats had actually backed – rather than abandoned – him?
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In the end, despite polls showing him trailing by 18 points in the final days of the campaign, Thompson lost to Mayor Bloomberg and his $100 million campaign by a mere 5 points.
So what if?
What if President Obama – instead of delivering a squishy, nonendorsement-endorsement of Thompson, after his press secretary couldn’t even come up with Thompson’s name – had stumped for the man?
“There are a number of people around Bill who felt that he was let down and that, yes, it could have helped if President Obama had campaigned with him,” one senior Thompson adviser said last night. “But that’s not who Bill Thompson is. He has not been bitter.”
Bitter or not, the question remains.
What if Vice President Biden, in town Monday to raise money for other Democrats, had taken 10 minutes to say something nice about the controller?
What if City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, instead of sitting on her hands for months, used the power of her purse strings to rustle up some support for Thompson?
What if the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was happy to stand onstage last night at Thompson’s concession speech, had stood a little closer during the campaign?
What if the more powerful city unions like the United Federation of Teachers and SEIU Local 1199, Democratic check writers or for-hire strategists had stayed true?
“A lot of Democratic donors who sat on their wallets are kicking themselves tonight,” said Rep. Anthony Weiner, who bowed out of the race for mayor early on, but did what he could for Thompson down the stretch.
One senior campaign official conceded no one thought “we could come that close.”
“Could we have gotten more support, from people who endorsed and the party itself? Yes,” said the official. “We won’t know what would [have] put us over the top, but it would have helped – extremely.”
Others were not sure anything could have saved Thompson, who never exuded the passion voters want in a mayor.
“It wouldn’t have done a thing, just like Bloomberg’s money didn’t make a difference,” said Hunter College’s political Prof. Ken Sherrill. “People who have lived in New York know what their lives are like and whether they are satisfied with Bloomberg.”
Wednesday morning quarterback.
what’s the difference – he LOST and Obama’s endorsement LOST.
B”H they didn’t do more because thompson supports toiava which is against the torah
tell Obama not every thing is his business. butt out
i am glad that he lost what if my grandmother would have wheels she would be a school bus. there are no what if’s. Thompson dose not believe in Thompson him self has no fire in his belly. Bloomberg if i like him or not has the fire in his belly spent his money what he believe’s in that is why he ran for mayor again and won
He lost. Deal with it. Now lets hope bloomie will do something positive for this city in the coming four years.
I guess Ney Yorkers chose the better of 2 evils, like NJersey.
Bloomburg is a much better mayor on yiddeshe values than thompson. He is a moderate on abortion and gay rights which is much more consistent with most jews than thompson. We are fortunate to have a yid who so clearly lives a life in accordance with torah-based values than his opponent would have been,.
Barak Hussein Obama, Joe Biden and Christine Quinn sat on their hands and did nothing because they really were Bloomberg supporters. If Al Shaprton had campaigned more actively for Thompson, that would have driven away the white voters who fear his potential influence in a Thompson administration.
And what if my cats half bothers dog would talked to the talking fish in new square about supporting Mosh Katz on his bid for an eriv in flipenburgers NC
“a yid who clearly lives a life in accordance with torah-based values”…….Are you talking about Bloomberg? Are you nuts?
Good morning NY. Now you wake up? Where was the daily news and the NY times last week? Bunch of good for nothings.
The lack of support told me that no one thought Thompson was a good choice. His own party didn’t really back him
What if ????????????????????? Hatech patech.
He came withn 5 points because less than 2 million New Yorkers out of aprox. 15million bothered to vote. In the areas where Thompson support is strong , voter turnout was respectable if not high. I , like many other Bloomberg supporters, did not bother to vote because a Bloomberg victory seemed to be a forgone conclusion. If the voter turnout had been more respectable, I assure you that the margine of victory would have been more in line with the predictions. I and many of my fellow non-voters should take a lesson from this . Go out and vote , even in the face of landslide predictions. I know I will. because our “lese faire “attitude brought dangerously close to a Thompson victory
I happened to vote for him – but I did that only as a protest vote against Bloomberg, his ego, and his policies (that are driving out the middle-class from NY). For Bloomberg this was a real embarrasment. With the amount of money he spent vs. what Thompson spent – he should have won by a major landslide. Yet he barely squeaked by. Hope he gets the message.
if obama or biden would have endorsed him any stronger he probably would have lost bigger as seen in nj and virginia.
Why is someone viewed as racist if they do not vote for candidate who happens to be black? Would you view a black as an anti-semite if he didn’t vote for Bloomberg? What was god about Thompson over Bloomberg? The truth is that this city is in bad financial shape since 9/11 and none of the candidates offered a solution.