Bill de Blasio close to avoiding runoff in NYC mayor race

The Democrats vying to be New York City's next mayor made their final pitches to the party's voters Monday as late polls showed Bill de Blasio within striking distance of the 40 percent needed to avoid an Oct. 1 runoff.

The front-runner and his rivals alike, imploring supporters to cast their votes, played down the possibility that de Blasio would win outright.

Campaigning with his wife, Chirlane McCray, Monday at PS 58 in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, de Blasio said: "The numbers say that there will be a runoff. And we want people to be clear about that and to be girded for the next phase of this battle."

A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday showed de Blasio ahead among likely Democratic primary voters with 39 percent, followed by former Comptroller Bill Thompson at 25 percent, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn with 18 percent, former Rep. Anthony Weiner with 6 percent and Comptroller John Liu with 4 percent. Eight percent of voters were undecided.

The poll surveyed 782 likely Democratic primary voters Sept. 6-8 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

For the homestretch, Thompson embarked on a 24-hour, five-borough campaign tour. Hosting 100 backers, including United Federation of Teachers members, at a rally outside City Hall, he said he was doing better than polls indicate.

"These polls are inaccurate," he said, recalling his unexpectedly close 2009 loss against Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Quinn's last full day of stumping took her to Jackson Heights, Queens, with Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Bronx/Queens), where she toured small businesses. She said she was confident she would make the runoff and earn the nomination.

She said she "knew this would be a fight 'til the end. But you know what? What New Yorkers want and need in a mayor is a fighter."

On the Republican side, front-runner Joe Lhota kicked off the morning at a $2,500-a-table-minimum fundraiser at a midtown Hilton hosted by business leaders James Tisch, Ken Langone and John Whitehead.

One attendee, Manhattan attorney Thomas Broussard, said the ascendancy in polls of de Blasio over more moderate Democrats like Quinn and Thompson gives Lhota's candidacy special urgency.

"I think de Blasio, if elected, is going to be a catastrophe for the city," Broussard said.

Bloomberg made his first public appearance Monday since a series of interviews were published in which he characterized de Blasio's campaign as "racist." He greeted students in Washington Heights, but quickly left after the event without taking reporters' questions.

Opinion polls have put Lhota, a former deputy mayor and MTA chief, far in front of his nearest rival, billionaire John Catsimatidis.

Catsimatidis gave a free concert for 1,200 people at Town Hall featuring 1960s hitmaker Jay Black of Jay and the Americans fame. "I go into a neighborhood. I put on entertainment. I love to take care of people," he said, and predicted he would win.

Democratic voters also will decide a close race for city comptroller between former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. One late opinion poll has Stringer ahead, while another gave Spitzer a slight edge, within the margin of error.

Spitzer quit as governor in 2008 over revelations he patronized prostitutes.

With Dan Rivoli

and Ivan Pereira