Bloomberg in mayoral bid

Crowded field includes Badillo, Green, Hevesi

By JILL GOLDSMITH

Bloomberg

The race for mayor of New York City is about to heat up as media mogul Michael Bloomberg begins sprinkling Gotham TV stations with his first campaign commercials today.

The ads, designed to introduce the candidate to voters, will run through Friday in lieu of a formal announcement by the founder of the Bloomberg financial data and news empire. With a personal fortune estimated at $4 billion, he's got a lot of firepower.

But it's a crowded contest so far. Bloomberg, a political neophyte, faces off with fellow Republican Herman Badillo, a former congressman and chairman of the City U. of New York. The well-seasoned Democratic roster includes public advocate Mark Green, City Council speaker Pete Vallone, Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer and comptroller Alan Hevesi.

Over the weekend, Hevesi won the highly coveted endorsement of the Liberal Party. Party topper Raymond Harding has been a staunch supporter of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Bloomberg, who switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican last year, hopes to step into Giuliani's shoes.

Bloomberg owns 75% of Bloomberg LLP, a diversified privately held company with estimated annual revenues of $2.3 billion. He has said he will not spend public matching funds during the campaign and won't take a salary if elected.

First, however, he's got to gather 7,500 signatures to appear on the Republican primary ballot.

Bloomberg, 59, intends to stress his business and financial acumen and innovation as a selling point to voters. He stepped down in March as chairman of Bloomberg LLP but remains chief exec. Most think he faces an uphill battle as a relative unknown in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

(Reuters contributed to this report.)