NY elects acting mayor 2nd time

Fernando Ferrer, though defeated, called the race a 'fight worth getting into.'
NEW YORK (AP) -- Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg won a second term in a blowout Tuesday, easily defeating former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer by drawing a wide majority of Democrats away from his opponent in this strongly left-leaning city.
Bloomberg, the billionaire former executive who was elected four years ago as fires still smoldered at the World Trade Center, said he would be "thrilled if I won by one vote or more."
With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Bloomberg had 708,609 votes, or 58 percent, compared with Ferrer's 471,795 votes, or 39 percent.
"All I wanted, and you gave it to me, was four more years," Bloomberg told a packed house at his victory celebration. "Thank you for letting me realize my greatest dreams in the greatest of all cities."
Bloomberg also was on pace to beat his 2001 spending record of $74 million, much of it from his personal fortune.
"It was a fight worth getting into," Ferrer told a cheering crowd after conceding his loss at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, where his grandmother once earned a living working in the kitchen. "Though of course I ran to win, I knew I could lose, so I ran first and foremost to raise a voice for those without one."
Crossing party lines
Bloomberg persuaded many Democrats to put aside party loyalty to vote for a Republican. Not even Republican Rudolph Giuliani, who enjoyed considerable Democratic support, did as well with the opposite party.
Ferrer, making his third run for mayor, criticized the mayor's personal spending on the race and portrayed Bloomberg as an elitist who catered to the interests of the wealthy. He repeatedly reminded voters that the mayor was a Republican who had campaigned for President Bush.
But the message failed to resonate with many New Yorkers, including longtime Democrats who crossed party lines to support the moderate Bloomberg, a supporter of gay marriage and abortion rights.
"I totally don't think he's a real Republican," said Cory Crayn, a die-hard Democrat who never strayed until he cast a vote for Bloomberg on Tuesday. "Otherwise, I really don't think I could have in good conscience voted for him today."
Bloomberg 's first-term accomplishments included winning control of the failing city school system, repairing the economy after the World Trade Center attack and overseeing a tremendous drop in crime.
Zenel Haxhaj, another Democrat who voted for Bloomberg, reasoned: "I figure you re-elect him if he hasn't done anything wrong."