While polls differ some, they tend to agree that Christine Quinn, Anthony Weiner headed for showdown

Recent polls show Christine Quinn and Anthony Weiner taking turns at the head of the pack of Democratic mayoral candidates, but experts said there's still plenty of time for lower-polling candidates to vault into the top tier.

"We are nearly eight weeks from Primary Day. That is a lifetime in politics," Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said.

Quinn, the City Council speaker, leads Weiner, the ex-congressman, by 27% to 18%, according to a New York Times-Siena poll published Thursday.

A Quinnipiac Poll this week had put Weiner ahead of Quinn, 25% to 22%.

In both surveys, former Comptroller Bill Thompson and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio were tied for third, polling at or near 10%.

Those numbers may change as the primary date nears and ads and televised debates help voters to learn more about the candidates, experts said.

Political consultant Joseph Mercurio said the Times-Siena poll "overstates Quinn a little and understates Thompson a little." He pointed to seniors and union families -- two demographics most likely to vote in a primary -- in the survey as better indicators of how the candidates are faring.

If no candidate earns 40% of the vote in the Sept. 10 primary, the first- and second-place finishers meet in an Oct. 1 runoff.

Campaigns downplayed the survey results. "Bad early polls don't freak me out; good early polls don't make me dance," Thompson chief strategist Jonathan Prince said.