Mr. Koch, who had previously endorsed two losing Democrats in the race, said he was going to remain silent about the Green-Bloomberg contest and simply vote for Mr. Bloomberg.
Why try to out-Bloomberg Bloomberg?
[Bloomberg via Business Insider].
Mr. Green and Mr. Bloomberg are both self-described liberals born at the time of World War II.
The mayor made his announcement just before 6 p.m. yesterday, when Mr. Green and Mr. Bloomberg were beginning the observance of Yom Kippur.
Standing before a Prius painted in the bright green hue, Mr. Bloomberg held up a green apple and declared that apple green would be "the official name for this color".
"Given that the entire labor movement except for one union was on Green's side, Bloomberg's victory is not a terribly good thing for the labor movement," said Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers.
Above all, both Mr. Green and Mr. Bloomberg say they will demand improvements in the city's schools -- reflected in better test scores -- and they expect to be measured on their success as mayor on that promise.
So as Mr. Bloomberg, green socks peeking out below his trouser cuffs, hurried to assume his place at the head of the line, Mr. West quietly squeezed in next to him.
Mr. Green and Mr. Bloomberg even share a significant and seemingly irreconcilable budgetary quandary: each has identified the city's payroll as a major focus of his municipal cost-cutting efforts, yet each has said teachers, police officers and firefighters, who together make up the bulk of the municipal work force, should get pay raises.
