While not following it on a daily basis, I catch the NYC Mayor’s race coverage sporadically. Yet, even from DC — and even as a casual observer of this contest — it feels as though Freddie Ferrer has turned a corner from the Diallo debacle, and is about to get back into the race from a press coverage perspective.
The “comeback” storyline is nicely set-up as Mark Green tells the New York Times’ Pat Healy today that Ferrer’s “make no waves equanimity” since the gaffe firestorm has been smart. He’s right. Since then, Ferrer has shipped in a new, well-regarded manager, Nick Baldick, and there appears (“appears” is just as good as reality in this instance) to be more order, the semblance of a strategy, and a sense that the media pack is about to flog someone else for a while. And along comes Virginia Fields at just the right time. While her transgression is a basic process story screw-up — and not to the damage level of Ferrer’s gaffe — the timing is perfect.
Campaign coverage is always cyclical — and look for Freddie Ferrer to see some daylight upfield, and look for the Mayor, towards the end of next month, to begin absorbing some big shots in the press. Considering the vastness of the Bloomberg paid media arsenal, it may not matter much. But the bottom line is that Ferrer is about to get some breaks — because of both good campaign management and the inevitable changing dynamic of the campaign storyline itself.