Bloomberg Re-elected

New York, NY —

Mayor Michael Bloomberg handily won re-election yesterday. With 100 percent of the vote counted, Bloomberg had 59 percent of the vote to Fernando Ferrer's 39 percent. That in a campaign where Ferrer was outspent by a margin of at least ten to one. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein reports.

CROWD: [Salsa music] Bloomberg Bloomberg!

REPORTER: This isn't the history that the Democratic party wanted to make last night. Far from electing New York's first Latino Mayor, voters instead choose billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg by the largest margin a Republican has ever won in this heavily democratic town.

BLOOMBERG: 4 years ago I knew with all my heart that New York City's future had no bounds. I could accomplish anything as long as we worked together and stayed together and look what we did!

REPORTER: Four years ago, the Mayor had just won a squeaker of an election in a town still permeated by the smoke from the destroyed twin towers. He claimed victory at 2AM in a Times Square Blues bar to a small crowd of a few hundred. Last night, that many people were on the stage, including his family, two former Mayors, Governor Pataki, and a 50-member gospel band. In front of him the spread was even more impressive - more than 4000 people packed the ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel in midtown.

BLOOMBERG: Never has a coalition like this come together before. Never has there been such a broad alliance. I'm incredibly proud about it.

REPORTER: The Mayor hopes this huge crowd will present a mandate for his second term, though exactly what the he intends to do, he left unsaid. He didn't venturing much beyond the slogans of his multimillion dollar ad campaign.

BLOOMBERG: Tomorrow we go back to fighting for a new york where families can live safely and grow, wheter the rights of every citizen are protected, a city where children can learn with good jobs and housing and health care for all. I can't wait.

REPORTER: If last night's election seemed like a foregone conclusion, the Mayor's supporters last night said it wasn't always so. Advisor Ester Fuchs says there was a trifecta of unpopular decisions - raising property taxes, closing firehouses, and banning smoking in bars and restaurants.

FUCHS: Its hard to remember now but this mayor actually made some unpopular decisions that of course now he was proven to be correct

REPORTER: There was also, the protracted battle over the West Side stadium. In fact, one aide said last night, it was only when the West Side stadium was defeated that many advisors began to believe the campaign was finally on the track to victory. Still, last night Ferrer strategist Luis Miranda said last night it was the Mayor's millions that prevented the Ferrer campaign from ever getting off the ground.

MIRANDA: probably one of the main difficulties we faced, one as you know its 100 million dollars that we're battling and our inability to raise the dollars to push the message forward when people are being told day in and day out by pollsters that we are 30 points behind its very difficult to get our supporters out of the funk.

REPORTER: But last night, Ferrer claimed victory of sorts - saying his plans to build more affordable housing, lessen drop out rates, and enroll more children in health care were now embraced by the Mayor.

FERRER: We spoke up for working people and the middle class. We spoke up for the poor and the hungry we spoke up for our children, we spoke up for our new york.

REPORTER: The twenty point margin wasn't as big as some polls had predicted. Bloomberg advisors said the leads had created an apathy, but some Democrats said once in the polling booth they simply could not, in the end, pull the lever for a man in the same party as President Bush. Bloomberg aide Billy Cunningham didn't much care, though.

CUNNINGHAM: I believe it's a new record for a republican mayor. It's a whalloping big victory, what more do you want?

REPORTER: From the smile on Michael Bloomberg face, 20 points was enough. For WNYC, I'm Andrea Bernstein.