How are we supposed to read Mike‘s second attack on George Bush in a week other than as something like a stretch for the panic button?
Today, with construction workers beside him, the Mayor called on the President to reinstate prevailing wage rules for federal contractors on the Gulf Coast. Last week, he took a shot at John Roberts.
What this seems to mean is that his alliance with the President– a minor local political irritant at most times — has suddenly turned into a major liability. Bush’s numbers are as bad as they’ve ever been, and he’s most toxic among the African-American voters Mike will have to count on in November. And after three years of loyalty to the President, it’s hard to see how a handful of statements will convince people the Mayor and the President have nothing to do with each other.
(There’s a Quinnipiac poll out tomorrow, and perhaps we’ll learn what the Mayor’s nervous about there.)
The Politicker and many others have been dismissing the notion that Bush could be a factor in this local race.
But Bloomberg pollster Doug Schoen has a bit more information than we do, so it’s probably best to defer to what seems to be his judgement: that Mike has a big Bush problem.