He likes Mike
Sure, he's not on the ballot, and whatever moment he might have enjoyed seems to have evaporated with the respective Obama and McCain juggernauts, but one Bloomberg supporter (this time, not the mayor himself) is keeping hope alive by driving a political billboard around town telling Gotham that Bloomberg is the only candidate who cannot be bought. We snapped this shot at East 39th Street and Third Avenue this morning, and before we could investigate, Newsday's Karla Schuster had the story. The man, Lenny Sobel, who owns Mobile Ads, began his day by driving the billboard in front of Bloomberg's townhouse but was asked to move along. Bloomberg says he's "flattered" but is, surprise, not a candidate. Reads the story after the jump.
-- Rolando Pujol
By Karla Schuster
Special to amNewYork
A Westbury man’s efforts to stoke the Bloomberg for President buzz with a mobile billboard drew several smiles, a few tourist snapshots and a polite but pointed request request from police to find another place to park.
Lenny Sobel, owner of Mobile Ads, arrived in front of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Upper East Side townhouse about 6:30 a.m., yesterday, only to have members of the mayor’s security detail ask him to leave.
“I thought I could give him a ride to work,” Sobel quipped.
By 7 a.m., the mobile billboard — bearing a picture of the White House with the mayor’s face super-imposed upon it and the words “Support Mike Bloomberg for President” — was parked on Broadway near Times Square.
Most bleary-eyed commuters passing by barely looked up from their coffee. One man pointed and smiled. Two women snapped photos.
“I didn’t think it would be this hard, but this is New York,” Sobel said, shrugging. He covered the cost of the billboard himself - about $2,000 - and is planning to take the truck around Manhattan this week to promote a Bloomberg presidential run.
The mayor has denied any White House aspirations, but his aides have quietly been conducting national polls to gauge his chances.
“It’s very flattering,” Bloomberg said of Sobel’s efforts, “but I’m not a candidate.”
Karla Schuster is a Newsday staff writer.
