Mayor Michael Bloomberg was a Republican the last time he campaigned for his job, and as the newly turned independent prepares to run for re-election in the left-leaning city he seems to be trying to bury his GOP past.
The billionaire mayor, who was a lifelong Democrat before he changed parties to avoid a crowded primary for his first run in 2001, has been making visible moves to align himself with high-profile Democrats.
His latest came in an announcement Tuesday that he will celebrate New Year's Eve on national television with former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are extremely popular in the city.
The mayor, who became an independent in 2007 as he explored a possible presidential run, invited the Clintons to join him in pushing the ceremonial button that lowers the famous crystal ball in Times Square. In previous years, his invited guests have included Wynton Marsalis, Christopher Reeve and a police officer who was an Iraq war veteran.
Bloomberg also recently hired longtime Clinton strategist Howard Wolfson to join his re-election campaign. The move surprised some political watchers because of Wolfson's alliances with Democrats who might end up facing Bloomberg and because of Wolfson's past comments about him and local politics.
Wolfson has openly agonized about the failure of Democrats to capture City Hall for four mayoral elections in a row. In a New York Times op-ed piece after Bloomberg's landslide re-election victory in 2005, Wolfson wrote about "what the Democrats can do to recapture City Hall in 2009."
He also bemoaned how Bloomberg's ability to tap his billions and bankroll his campaign "distorts the terms of the debate" and suggested re-examining the city's campaign finance law.
By hiring Wolfson, Bloomberg is stealing away a potential weapon that other Democrats could have used in their campaigns. He also brings himself another step closer to the Clintons, who have never endorsed him for mayor.
Bloomberg also has heaped praise on Caroline Kennedy since it became known she wants to be appointed to replace Hillary Clinton, who is expected to be confirmed as secretary of state in President-elect Barack Obama's administration. His political aide Kevin Sheekey also privately made some initial calls promoting Kennedy's bid for the seat.
Bloomberg and his advisers may have thought Kennedy would help him publicly with Democratic voters, but the relationship has rankled some Democratic leaders, who were suspicious Kennedy might support an independent over a Democrat in the mayor's race next year.
Asked Tuesday whether anything should be read into his public cozying up to Democrats, Bloomberg demurred.
"I don't know that my links to Democrats are growing any more than my links to Republicans, or not growing, depending on who you ask," he said.
Bloomberg, who said in 2006 that he "couldn't be prouder to run on the Republican ticket and be a Republican," similarly sought to hide his GOP ties during his last campaign. He spoke out more forcefully against President George W. Bush that year and largely avoided Bush during the 2004 Republican convention at Madison Square Garden.
Democrats tried to use Bush's unpopularity against Bloomberg throughout the campaign. The state Democratic Committee even sent a man wearing a Bush mask to taunt him at public appearances.
