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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bloomberg Upsets Green in N.Y. Mayoral Race

Aired November 07, 2001 - 08:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The morning after a tough mayoral campaign here in New York, and we just know out Jack Cafferty has something to say about it. He's here for our daily "Here's What I Don't Get" segment.

Good morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Where did the magic -- Rudy Giuliani has the magic dust, and that's what happened in this election, as recently as what maybe 10 days ago. Bloomberg was an odd-on favorite to get beat.

ZAHN: Yes, no one thought he had a chance.

CAFFERTY: Five to one Democratic registration edge in New York City. Bloomberg was perceived as a millionaire businessman Republican in a city that's blue collar, and transit workers, and subway folks and stuff like that.

ZAHN: A guy who was going to spend $50,000,000 of his own cash to become mayor

CAFFERTY: Yes, that helps. He had $50 million to spend, and he had this guy Giuliani who imbued somehow out of this World Trade Center thing with political magic. I mean, I have not seen an endorsement in this town in 27 years do what Giuliani's endorsement of Mike Bloomberg did in the closing days of the campaign.

Let me back up a little bit, though. When he entered the Republican primary back in this summer, that little business program I do downstairs under witness protection...

ZAHN: It's not so little; it's a giant business program.

CAFFERTY: CNNfn. It's the witness protection network. You can hide out on the FBI's 10 most wanted list and you'll never be seen.

ZAHN: You're not that invisible.

CAFFERTY: Anyway, I said something stupid and flip. I said, if Mike Bloomberg is the next mayor of New York City, I will eat the building. Fortunately, they lost the tape.

ZAHN: We'd like you to eat this building.

CAFFERTY: But I mean, that was how ridiculous the idea of Bloomberg being the mayor of the city was, and then he went on -- politicians say stupid things in campaigns, and he had the trophy on his mantle piece for the dumbest thing anybody ever said running for mayor for a while. When he was asked by a reporter, they said, who do you like, the Yankees or the Mets? He said, well, I'm from Boston. I mean, just get a gun and put it in your mouth and pull trigger, you can't say that in New York City.

ZAHN: You couldn't even be caught dead wearing a Boston Red Sox cap?

CAFFERTY: The only thing worse was Hillary Clinton wearing a New York Yankees hat and she didn't know what it was, but he said -- something like that, yes. Now he had the trophy for a while, until Mark Green, after the events of September 11th said this -- roll the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK GREEN, N.Y. MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I actually believe that, if God forbid, I had been the mayor during such a calamity, I would have done as well or better than Rudy Giuliani..

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Wow.

CAFFERTY: Now he has retired. He will never leave his home. That is the stupidest thing anybody could have come up with in light of what Rudy Giuliani did in this town after September 11th. I mean, what prompted him to say that, I don't know.

ZAHN: Yes, but there were stupid ads on both sides.

CAFFERTY: But he actually said this. Ads are one thing. You can create ads in the studio. This guy went out and without any prompting, no script, no teleprompter said, I could have done as good as Rudy Giuliani.

I mean, Hello? Good night, Mark, it's over.

ZAHN: Where did that come from? Probably not a full acknowledgment of what that endorsement would mean? He's not a dumb man.

CAFFERTY: No, he's not, and he's a lifelong public servant, and not to denigrate what he's done; he's done a lot of things. Maybe he was thinking in terms of, this is a way to convey confidence in my own leadership abilities, but it was just the wrong thing at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons, and the Bloomberg guys turned it into a commercial, but the thing was Rudy Giuliani putting his arm around Bloomberg, and saying, this is my guy. He was out campaigning with him at 9:00 last night with the polls still open, and the magic that is Giuliani, accrued to him since the World Trade Center, the way he's handled himself in this town, was transferable. Usually political endorsements don't mean the "Times" endorses this one, "The Daily News" endorses that, and so it's like, who cares?

ZAHN: But that endorsement came so late in the process?

CAFFERTY: The way the commercial was crafted, it made -- it almost made you think that Giuliani was running for office.

ZAHN: Maybe that's what they had in mind, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Absolutely.

ZAHN: But what about the $50,000,000 he spent? I mean, every Democrat out there is accusing this guy of buying the election. You think the money had something to do with it, Jack?

CAFFERTY: I think the money had something to do with getting his name before the public, but 10 days before the election, he was way behind in the polls, so the money hadn't done what he wanted it to do, because he wasn't in a position to win, for all of the 50,000,000 bucks that he spent.

You know, I guess there is way no actually ever define or divine exactly what happened, but it seemed to me, this country, boy, from out there in the West, that when Giuliani said this is my guy, that is when this changed, because the problems confronting this city now, they require a business guide, they require a CEO. They require a guy who can look at budgets, and personnel, and staffing and create business plans, and he is a guy who can to go to Giuliani now and say, hey, look, you help me get this job, how do I do this, and how about you stay around and possibly be in charge of rebuilding the financial district or, you know, some kind of a role, so that Giuliani doesn't drop off of the radar screen in New York, and I think that the citizens in the city would like that.

ZAHN: It's funny, because all of the polling suggested in the last week that the number one issue is exactly what you said, the rebuilding of the city, the majority of people polled said that is the number one issue.

CAFFERTY: Before that, it was a different thing, and maybe the things that Mark Green brought to the table were more attractive because there was a different set of requirements.

Have you gone to France? Do we have time to do this?

ZAHN: If you do, under the threat of a 15-seconds warning here, Jack? Do you think you can do it in 15 seconds?

CAFFERTY: You have been to France right?

ZAHN: Yes.

CAFFERTY: When you go to France, they want you to speak French. They really want you to speak French. Tomorrow, I've got a piece of tape, I'll show you. We will talk about the French. ZAHN: All I remember about my French from France is...

(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

That's something I've used a lot.

(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: See, that's why they keep me downstairs, I can't communicate.

ZAHN: Don't ever view yourself as part of the witness protection network.

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