The New York Times
Saturday September 10, 2005 @ 12:00 AM
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
When Anthony D. Weiner thinks about the future, he occasionally dwells on the past -- 1977, to be specific, when Edward I. Koch was in last place against a crowded field of better-known Democratic mayoral candidates, only to surge ahead in the primary's final days, beat Mario Cuomo in a runoff and then beat him again to become the city's 105th mayor.
''We have a certain affinity in this city for late-charging candidates in the primary,'' Mr. Weiner said in an interview a few weeks ago. ''They have a particular affinity for Brooklyn and Queens congressmen who are appealing to working-class New Yorkers and those who aspire to get into the middle class.''
When he said it, that seemed like just another instance of Mr. Weiner's trademark bravado. But now, as Mr. Weiner enters the final weekend of campaigning, it looks more like prescience.
After weeks pounding the pavement, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of campaign ads and a couple of strong debate performances, he has marched steadily up in public opinion polls. A Marist survey released yesterday shows him with a 30 percent share of likely Democratic voters, a statistical tie with Fernando Ferrer, who has consistently led most polls, giving Mr. Weiner his highest numbers yet in any poll.
''In every race I've been in, I've always been an underdog who's been outspent and had political organizations lined up against me,'' Mr. Weiner said yesterday while campaigning in Hell's Kitchen, one of his few stops in Manhattan over several straight days of campaigning. (He was accompanied by James R. McManus, a Democratic district leader and founder of the local McManus Democratic Association -- at least one political organization that has lined up with Mr. Weiner, not against him.) ''So to some degree, when I was at 6 percent, in fourth place, I had them right where I wanted them. But there's a lot of work to be done here. We still have several months to go.''
For the last four days, Mr. Weiner has crisscrossed the city by school bus, hitting areas including Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, Forest Hills in Queens and Riverdale in the Bronx. They are central to the campaign strategy he has pursued from the beginning of this campaign: drawing high turnout in his Congressional district and among other pockets of middle-class white voters, especially those middle-class whites who might best be termed ''Giuliani Democrats.'' At yeshivas and parochial schools, pizzerias and ice cream shops, Mr. Weiner has continued to talk up his central campaign themes: lowering taxes on the middle class, aiding small businesses and promoting governmental ties to religious institutions.
On Wednesday Mr. Weiner stopped his campaign bus across the street from the volunteer firehouse in Broad Channel, Queens, outside a Roman Catholic school that he said he had helped keep open.
''As mayor, I'll not just concentrate on the big skyscrapers of Manhattan,'' he said, a poke at Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and a reaffirmation of his own outer-borough bona fides, much brandished by the candidate as he looks to offset City Council Speaker Gifford Miller's presumed advantage in Manhattan.
But there have been a few tweaks to the routine. With recent polls showing him nipping at Fernando Ferrer's heels, Mr. Weiner has scaled back the self-deprecating cracks about his skinny frame and has adopted a more statesmanlike pose, part of a broader conversion from scrappy underdog to genuine contender.
And where his early stump speeches invoked New York's middle class with unerring regularity, he has lately circled back to issues of poverty and chronic unemployment, in what appears to be an effort to scoop up wavering supporters of C. Virginia Fields. (During Thursday night's debate, he pointedly named Ms. Fields when asked which of the other candidates he would most support after himself.)
But Mr. Weiner still relies on some his usual lines, as when he hands out orange and blue campaign stickers to children and tells their parents, ''If I see that on eBay in two hours, I'll know who to call.'' And he still likes to leaven his paeans to small businesses with a good joke or two.
''The Democratic primary is on Tuesday,'' he told a couple having coffee at a shop in Hell's Kitchen. ''Here's a little reminder,'' he added, putting a campaign pamphlet on the table. ''If you don't mind sharing, we're trying to save money on the campaign.''
When Anthony D. Weiner thinks about the future, he occasionally dwells on the past -- 1977, to be specific, when Edward I. Koch was in last place against a crowded field of better-known Democratic mayoral candidates, only to surge ahead in the primary's final days, beat Mario Cuomo in a runoff and then beat him again to become the city's 105th mayor.
''We have a certain affinity in this city for late-charging candidates in the primary,'' Mr. Weiner said in an interview a few weeks ago. ''They have a particular affinity for Brooklyn and Queens congressmen who are appealing to working-class New Yorkers and those who aspire to get into the middle class.''
When he said it, that seemed like just another instance of Mr. Weiner's trademark bravado. But now, as Mr. Weiner enters the final weekend of campaigning, it looks more like prescience.
After weeks pounding the pavement, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of campaign ads and a couple of strong debate performances, he has marched steadily up in public opinion polls. A Marist survey released yesterday shows him with a 30 percent share of likely Democratic voters, a statistical tie with Fernando Ferrer, who has consistently led most polls, giving Mr. Weiner his highest numbers yet in any poll.
''In every race I've been in, I've always been an underdog who's been outspent and had political organizations lined up against me,'' Mr. Weiner said yesterday while campaigning in Hell's Kitchen, one of his few stops in Manhattan over several straight days of campaigning. (He was accompanied by James R. McManus, a Democratic district leader and founder of the local McManus Democratic Association -- at least one political organization that has lined up with Mr. Weiner, not against him.) ''So to some degree, when I was at 6 percent, in fourth place, I had them right where I wanted them. But there's a lot of work to be done here. We still have several months to go.''
For the last four days, Mr. Weiner has crisscrossed the city by school bus, hitting areas including Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, Forest Hills in Queens and Riverdale in the Bronx. They are central to the campaign strategy he has pursued from the beginning of this campaign: drawing high turnout in his Congressional district and among other pockets of middle-class white voters, especially those middle-class whites who might best be termed ''Giuliani Democrats.'' At yeshivas and parochial schools, pizzerias and ice cream shops, Mr. Weiner has continued to talk up his central campaign themes: lowering taxes on the middle class, aiding small businesses and promoting governmental ties to religious institutions.
On Wednesday Mr. Weiner stopped his campaign bus across the street from the volunteer firehouse in Broad Channel, Queens, outside a Roman Catholic school that he said he had helped keep open.
''As mayor, I'll not just concentrate on the big skyscrapers of Manhattan,'' he said, a poke at Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and a reaffirmation of his own outer-borough bona fides, much brandished by the candidate as he looks to offset City Council Speaker Gifford Miller's presumed advantage in Manhattan.
But there have been a few tweaks to the routine. With recent polls showing him nipping at Fernando Ferrer's heels, Mr. Weiner has scaled back the self-deprecating cracks about his skinny frame and has adopted a more statesmanlike pose, part of a broader conversion from scrappy underdog to genuine contender.
And where his early stump speeches invoked New York's middle class with unerring regularity, he has lately circled back to issues of poverty and chronic unemployment, in what appears to be an effort to scoop up wavering supporters of C. Virginia Fields. (During Thursday night's debate, he pointedly named Ms. Fields when asked which of the other candidates he would most support after himself.)
But Mr. Weiner still relies on some his usual lines, as when he hands out orange and blue campaign stickers to children and tells their parents, ''If I see that on eBay in two hours, I'll know who to call.'' And he still likes to leaven his paeans to small businesses with a good joke or two.
''The Democratic primary is on Tuesday,'' he told a couple having coffee at a shop in Hell's Kitchen. ''Here's a little reminder,'' he added, putting a campaign pamphlet on the table. ''If you don't mind sharing, we're trying to save money on the campaign.''
