NEW YORK (AP) — Democrats are agonizing over what might have happened if the national party had not abandoned the challenger who came close to unseating New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The Democratic candidate, city Comptroller William Thompson Jr., was outspent and outcampaigned by Bloomberg but still managed to get within five points of the billionaire incumbent.
He did that without any help from the Democratic National Committee or the party's leaders, who stayed silent about the race for City Hall in the nation's largest city.
Democrats say there is soul-searching going on by people who didn't do enough.
Meanwhile, the numbers show Bloomberg was probably hurt by his campaign's efforts to make his win seem inevitable. He got far fewer votes this year than in 2005.
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