New York Democratic mayoral primary undecided

By Christopher Michaud

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former Bronx Borough President
Fernando Ferrer was the top vote-getter in New York’s
Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday, but it was unclear
whether he could avoid a runoff with the runner-up, U.S. Rep.
Anthony Weiner.

With 99.7 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial
results showed “Freddy” Ferrer had 39.9 percent the vote, just
shy of the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff in
three weeks.

Weiner, who made a late push in the final weeks of the
campaign, finished with nearly 29 percent.

Christopher Riley, a spokesman for the city’s Board of
Elections, said there are approximately 25,000 absentee ballots
that need to be counted. Those results won’t be known for “a
couple of days,” he said.

Political experts say regardless of the outcome, the
Democratic nominee will likely lose against Republican Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman elected just
weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade
Center.

The popular incumbent is expected to spend more than $100
million on this campaign.

A lifelong Democrat who switched parties when he decided to
run for office to avoid a more crowded primary field, Bloomberg
faced no opposition but still threw a victory party on Tuesday.

“Somebody told me there’s a primary contest somewhere,” the
mayor joked to supporters. “I love primary night, especially
when I don’t have to run in one.”

Meanwhile, in his first real contest in two decades,
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, the 86-year-old
prosecutor who has held the high-profile post for 31 years,
appeared to have prevailed with 59 percent of the vote. Leslie
Crocker Snyder, a former state judge now in private legal
practice, attracted 41 percent.

In another closely watched race, incumbent New York Public
Advocate Betsy Gotbaum defeated Norman Siegel, director of the
New York Civil Liberties Union, 48 percent to 30 percent. The
public advocate would run the city should the mayor be
incapacitated, according to the city’s charter.