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Bloomberg wins New York mayoral elections

Republican Michael Bloomberg won the New York mayoral elections on Tuesday defeating his Democratic rival Mark Green.

Bloomberg will succeed popular incumbent Rudolph Giuliani.

New York City public advocate Green made the customary congratulatory phone call to Bloomberg, signalling an end to the hard-fought elections.

Green, in a speech to supporters said: "We gave it our all, we really did, but it wasn't enough."

Political novice Bloomberg, founder of the international news and information company, Bloomberg LP, spent $50 million of his own money in a come-from-behind campaign victory.

A newcomer to politics just this year, Bloomberg, 59, first made his name and money as a Wall Street trader and after he was fired in 1981 by Salomon Brothers with a severance package of $10 million, he founded Bloomberg LP news and information company.

To enter the campaign as a Republican candidate, the Boston-area born Bloomberg gave up his lifelong membership and patronage of Democratic Party causes in a city in which Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than five-to-one.

Given no chance by virtually all political observers, Bloomberg laid out his sales pitch in the primary campaign, months before hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center plunged the city into its worst economic crisis. Bloomberg said he would build on Republican Giuliani's record in fighting crime to make New York the safest big city in the country.

Bloomberg was born February 14, 1942 and raised outside of Boston. His father worked as a bookkeeper at a local dairy. Raised in a middle class household, Bloomberg said he worked as a parking lot attendant while studying at Johns Hopkins University. He later also graduated from Harvard University's business school.

Agencies

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