Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak, under fire from Republican opponents as a liberal for voting most of the time with his party's leadership, is set to receive an endorsement Tuesday from independent New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Campaign strategists hope that Bloomberg's reputation for nonideological government will reinforce their argument that Sestak, a former Navy vice admiral in his second House term, is a pragmatic problem-solver rather than a partisan warrior.
Bloomberg plans to campaign with Sestak at the Progress Plaza development in North Philadelphia on Tuesday at 9:45 a.m., though the mayor's recent strong but unpopular support for the right of a Muslim group to build a mosque near the site of the 9/11 attack in New York could drown out the endorsement message.
"Mayor Bloomberg is someone who represents the same approach to public service I believe in - let's solve the problem, take ideas from both sides, and resolve issues in a pragmatic way," Sestak said Sunday in a brief interview. "It's an honor."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100815_New_Yorks_Mayor_Bloomberg_endorsing_Sestak.html