Al Sharpton Urges Bill Thompson Out Of The Race

It's only a matter of time before Thompson is gone.

The Daily News reports that not only have three of the Quinn unions quickly endorsed de Blasio post-primary, but Al Sharpton is also urging Thompson out for the sake of the Democratic Party:

A day after the primaries, the mayoral campaign hit the pause button Wednesday for the anniversary of 9/11 — but behind the scenes, Democratic leaders were working to get Bill Thompson to quit the race.

Several Democratic heavyweights said they are throwing their support to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio in the interest of party unity — even though Thompson was holding out hope he may have enough support from the uncounted votes to force a runoff.

Leaders of three unions that backed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for mayor — Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, the Hotel Trades Council and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union — signaled that they are jumping to de Blasio or that Thompson should not pursue a runoff.

The Rev. Al Sharpton also is urging Thompson to leave the race “to avoid there being a short, bitter runoff that would likely end” with de Blasio winning anyway, said an elected official who backed Thompson for mayor.

And de Blasio’s campaign organized a “unity rally” for Thursday in downtown Brooklyn to speed the process of bringing the party together.

“It’s an effort to unify labor and Democrats around de Blasio and to push Thompson out of the running,” said one political operative organizing the gathering.

A top labor leader who endorsed Thompson predicted that he would drop out by Friday, so the party can avoid more infighting after a contentious primary.

“By the end of this week, you should see all the Democrats uniting behind one candidate,” the source said, predicting Thompson would soon recognize that a bruising, three-week runoff with de Blasio would not help the Democrats’ chances of recapturing City Hall after being out of power for 20 years.

Thompson was adamant that he is staying the race until all the votes are counted, but with his co-chair Merryl Tisch publicly stating she thinks Bill de Blasio won a "convincing victory," with the Quinn unions all jumping on the de Blasio bandwagon, with Al Sharpton publicly stating it's time for Thompson to go, and with other Democrats behind the scenes telling him the same, he will have no support if he chooses to try and force a runoff.

Even the UFT won't be backing Thompson:

Another key Thompson supporter, United Federation of Teachers boss Michael Mulgrew, offered only the most perfunctory comments when asked if Thompson should stay in the race.

“We are awaiting the final count,” he said.

And yet another Thompson ally in the labor movement said it would be difficult for Thompson to take de Blasio down in a one-on-one matchup.

“If Billy couldn’t even beat de Blasio among black voters, where will he draw additional votes from?” this labor leader said, referring to an exit poll that showed de Blasio, who is white, tied Thompson, who is black, among African-American voters.

Those of us who were worried that the UFT would continue to back Thompson in a runoff apparently need not be.

Mulgrew's words are not exactly a call to arms for Thompson.

I was thinking they would give him until Monday to get out of the race, giving him a chance to save face by waiting for the final votes to be counted.

But it sounds from the News article that pressure is ratcheting up behind the scenes and when Sharpton goes public with a call for Thompson to quit, he's got to know the game is over.