And with that unprecedented call for voters to go to the polls, a critic of Michael Bloomberg says the mayor has "highly compromised" himself on that issue, because he maneuvered to have the City Council, and not the public, vote on extending term limits. 

"I think he's highly compromised as an advocate for encouraging people to vote," Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause-New York said in a telephone interview. " 'Vote on everything except whether I have a third term?' He's not in a strong position," she said.

Term limits were created and upheld in two public referenda in the 1990s. Lerner and her supporters say only the public should change the law, since they created it. Bloomberg said there simply is no time before the 2009 city elections.