When Howard Wolfson Says, “The Issue Of Jobs And The Economy Is One That We Want To Engage The Public With In A Conversation,” Expect Bad Stuff To Happen

Maybe you wondered why Bloomberg started a huge television campaign eight months before the election, a campaign featuring the mayor, “his trademark jacket and tie swapped for a casual button-down shirt, talking to ordinary New Yorkers about their financial woes.” Ads that focus on the mayor’s “plan to create or save 400,000 jobs, provide loans to small business and invest in infrastructure. ‘We do have a plan to get through this,’ Mr. Bloomberg says. ‘The city can’t do everything, but we can do a lot to make it easier for the people that live in this city.” Maybe you thought, wow, that’s early to be advertising, especially when likely opponents are basically silent. Hmm. Hmm:

Based on the amount of television time the mayor has purchased, the average New Yorker is likely to see the ads about 12 times.

Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the campaign, said that New Yorkers “will certainly see the ad.” But, he added, “It will not saturate the airwaves.”

Asked about the timing, Mr. Wolfson said: “If it were up to me, we would have run ads a month earlier than today. This issue of jobs and the economy is one that we want to engage the public with in a conversation.”

So why burnish your middle class cred back in April? Is it because the Executive Budget is due in less than a week or so? Remember Chekhov’s Gun . . .