It's show time. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Democrat struggling to unseat him have one more debate before Election Day.
Bloomberg and William Thompson Jr. are focusing on education and jobs during their second and final hourlong face-off tonight.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg has maintained a comfortable lead in the polls, leading his rival by 18 points, according to one released yesterday.
"It's been shaping up all along, and now the new numbers say it looks like a Bloomberg blow-out," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Quinnipiac surveyed 1,088 New York City voters between October 23 to 25 and found Bloomberg leading Thompson by 53 percent to 35 percent with 10 percent still undecided.
The race has been contentious, with both sides running negative ads.
Their first debate was almost nonstop bickering. Bloomberg kept Thompson on the defensive and the Democrat didn't spend much time talking about his accomplishments.
Bloomberg is running for a third term on the Republican and Independence Party lines, while Thompson is running as the Democratic Party candidate. The latest campaign records show Bloomberg, as of Friday, had spent $85 million on his campaign for a third term, and he's on pace to shell out between $110 million and $140 million before the election on Nov. 3. Thompson has only spent about $6 million.
Bloomberg has already spent more of his own money in pursuit of public office than any other individual in U.S. history, The New York Times reported.
The debate airs live on WABC TV, 1010 WINS radio and 7online.com.
