Dreamin' big

N.Y. icon Ed Koch longs for political candidates who are titans

By ED KOCH

So, here we are with four Lilliputians running on tight budgets against a Gulliver with a billion bucks in his checking account.

As Mayor Bloomberg seeks election to a second term, he's facing attacks from four candidates who are vying in a Democratic primary that has become a comedy of errors.

There was a time when the Democratic primary was an arena for the party's icons. In 1977, when I was elected to my first term, my competitors for the mayoral nomination were Bella Abzug, Mario Cuomo, Herman Badillo, Percy Sutton and the incumbent, Abe Beame. But what a generation ago was a clash of titans has become an ordinary race, principally punctuated by campaign blunders.

First to fall from grace was front-runner Freddy Ferrer. Seeking to expand his base, he spoke at an event hosted by the NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association. Ferrer gave his reflections on the Amadou Diallo shooting, which occurred during the Giuliani administration. Diallo, an unarmed black man, was killed in a fusillade of 41 bullets while in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment house. Ferrer said, "I don't believe it was a crime," alienating many New York voters, particularly African-Americans.

Goodbye, Freddy!

Recently, Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields got into a public squabble with her campaign strategist, Joe Mercurio, firing him for using a composite photograph in her literature in which two Asian faces were doctored in. Mercurio's statement that he warned against the use of the composite picture and was overruled by others in the campaign is widely accepted. Apparently Fields' campaign couldn't bring seven New Yorkers of different races together for one genuine picture showing the alleged diversity of her support.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens) has decided that quips about his mom will work for him when they rarely work for anyone. For months, the Weiner campaign pitted four boroughs against Manhattan. Then, he belatedly realized there is a Manhattan middle class as well. And they vote.

Finally, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, a truly nice person, is finding that his youthful demeanor and preppie appearance convey a lack of mayoral gravitas. Adding to his troubles was his inability to muster a City Council override of a recent mayoral veto. A speaker who can't muster votes in the Council will have an ever harder time at the polls.

I've endorsed Mayor Bloomberg, based on what I see is a record of achievement in education, the economy and race relations.

Still, there's no getting around the fact that there's a dearth of first-rate candidates in both parties and at all levels of government - local, state and national. Why is that? Before I attempt to answer that question, let me hasten to add that "dearth" is not intended to mean absence but, rather, too few. Some leaders in the public sector do inspire confidence.

At the presidential level, Democratic Sens. Joe Biden (Del.) and Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) are topnotch. So is Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. On the Republican side, Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Orrin Hatch (Utah) are on the A-list.

In New York, Democrats Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general, and Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and Republicans Gov. Pataki and Rep. Peter King (L.I.) deserve everyone's respect.

What is the common thread that puts them at the top? Integrity, along with the fact that they are not perceived as ideologues.

McCain is probably the most ideological of the lot. Some believe he is more conservative than President Bush. Yet McCain's candor, integrity and genuine war hero status have caused voters of both parties to conclude they would support him, even when they disagree with his social positions. They long for someone they believe can rise above the political scene. McCain is so admired that in the last presidential election Democratic candidate John Kerry offered him the vice presidential position on his ticket, knowing McCain's popularity would hugely enhance Kerry's chances for success.

Future candidates for mayor of New York, take heed. Two qualities will get you to City Hall: proven integrity and a sense of being above the fray. Two potential Democratic candidates who meet that standard are Bill Thompson, the city controller, and Robert Rubin, former secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton. Even better, maybe they could join forces.

But this dream ticket is four years away.

Koch was mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989.