These events represent Paterson trying to shore himself up with a critical constituency--African-Americans from the five boroughs. This event will be held at the St. Albans Congregational Church on Linden Boulevard tomorrow night.

"I'm looking forward to this second stop on our tour, to listen to Queens residents, and to talk about the challenges we face and what we can do together to overcome them," Governor Paterson said in a statement sent over by his campaign manager. "I'm happy to answer questions, share my plans to create new jobs, discuss how the state's finances affect our families, and outline where I want to take things in Albany."

Paterson will be joined at the event by Assemblymembers Barbara Clark, Vivian Cook, William Scarborough and Michelle Titus, Councilmembers Leroy Comrie and Tom White. He will not be joined by any state senators; Paterson has been bashing members of that chamber since the summer.

The St. Albans meeting will take place in the district of Senator Shirley Huntley, who just dealt a blow to Paterson's agenda by voting against a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. Interestingly, Senator Malcolm Smith--whose district is nearby--is not being billed as attending, nor is Representative Greg Meeks. Meeks was a conduit through which the White House, reportedly, kind of, expressed its desire that Paterson not seek election.

UPDATE: Fife sent over this flier, which does include Smith and Meeks in the billing. Neither are expected to attend; Meeks has votes in Washington and a spokesman for Smith said it is not currently on his schedule.

UDPATE 2: The event was added to Smith's schedule today. He is slated to attend a conference in San Diego starting Wednesday, but added the event when schedulers realized he could accommodate it, a Smith aide said.

Paterson Queens

It’s one of a handful of new ads the campaign rolled out yesterday, all featuring people other than Bloomberg talking about Bloomberg.

“There was always a lot of finger-pointing about why schools were failing,” she says. “Mayor Bloomberg shares my passion for education.”

“The job’s not done, but schools are going in the right direction,” she says.

This emphasis on education lines up with what Bloomberg told a local paper in Queens last week, which is that he decided to seek a third term after hearing a parent thank him for the public schools.

"She said, 'I know as long as you're the mayor, the schools will get better,' and that's when I said, 'I'm gonna run,’” Bloomberg is quoted as saying in the Queens Gazette.

“He’s been a good mayor,” said Joseph Gravagna, 29, of Queens, who works in advertising. When asked if he was bothered in any way about the mayor un-enrolling from the party last year, Gravagna said, “No, because he’s been a good mayor.”

Much of Bloomberg’s remarks were focused on his own record--with a little flattery mixed in. At one point, Bloomberg said that if the members of the audience wanted to give credit to someone for putting the city on sound footing, they should "look in the mirror,” since New York is coping with the budget crisis better than many other cities.

Bloomberg's appearance at the club had been the subject of debate for days, but the dissenting members of the club agreed not to protest too loudly because of the nature of the event--the mayor was invited to present an award to children who won an essay contest sponsored by the club at two local lawmakers, Senator Frank Padavan, a Republican, and Assemblywoman Barbara Clark, a Democrat.

But many Republicans were annoyed at Bloomberg’s presence at the club, and they did not mind saying so to a reporter.

“The mayor’s aides invited him to the dinner,” said Phil Orstein, a club member who arranged the dinner Sunday. “They called up the chairman of our board and told him that the mayor was coming,” he said. “He’s not coming here to get our endorsement. We’re not giving it to him. None of us really want him to buy a third term for any amount of money."

“I know he’s playing us, he’s using us. And I’m going to come after anyone who says that he’s there for the endorsement. I’ll go to their door–" Orstein paused. "I don’t want to get angry. I’m sorry. I get carried away a little bit."

While Bloomberg spoke, Tom Ognibene, who challenged the mayor in a Republican primary in 2005, sat at the far end of the room. When the mayor attended the event in 2005, Ognibene and Bloomberg politely shook hands and exchanged greetings. This year, they didn’t.

“He’s got a lot of bridges to repair,” Ognibene said. He declined to say on the record what Bloomberg could do to build those bridges.

Sitting on either side of Ognibene were John Haggerty and his brother, Bart, Republican operatives who have clashed with the county leadership and supporters of Bloomberg.

As Bloomberg left, children and their parents rushed to get photos with the mayor. Bloomberg obliged. Club members remained in their seats, eating their salads and bread rolls. Bloomberg made his way out of the dining room and a trail of photo seekers followed him, including John Haggerty, whose right arm was in a sling. When the mayor inquired, Haggerty said he broke his arm after a fall.

"You’ve got to sue the city," Bloomberg joked. Haggerty, who said he believes in tort reform, laughed and said, "I can’t. I’m a Republican."

Comrie will need the money to compete with better-funded rivals like Peter Vallone, Jr. (who held one of his fund-raisers in the mayor’s home).

Sharp-eyed readers will notice Assemblyman Bill Scarborough was also there [identification corrected].