New Yorkers cast votes yesterday in a tight mayoral race between a Democrat, Mr Mark Green, and a Republican, Mr Michael Bloomberg, to decide who will succeed the popular incumbent, Mr Rudolph Giuliani, and lead a city whose economy and spirit have been wounded by the September 11th attacks.
The battle to replace Mr Giuliani, widely credited for his handling of the crisis, is between Mr Green (56), a political veteran, and Mr Bloomberg (59), a billionaire media mogul who has never before run for public office. The race turned bitter and unexpectedly close in its final days.
The election for leader of the nation's largest city was overshadowed for weeks by the hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Centre, the anthrax outbreak, and Mr Giuliani's leadership.
Mayor Giuliani, who cannot stand for a third term but has endorsed Mr Bloomberg, has calmed public fears of further attacks, lobbied the federal government for money to rebuild the city's financial district and made appearances at memorials and funerals for some thousands of victims of September 11th.
Hoping to win last-minute votes before polls opened at 6 a.m., Mr Green and Mr Bloomberg ran around-the-clock tours of the city and flooded TV and radio stations with commercials.
Ms Naomi Bernstein, spokeswoman for the city board of elections, said voter turnout so far was "brisk" in a race that many analysts and politicians have said is one of the most crucial mayoral contests in the city's history.
"That's not to say it's going to be a heavy turnout," she added. "But people are voting." A large turnout is seen as likely favouring Mr Green.
Mr Green led Mr Bloomberg by double digits in surveys just two weeks ago. But that lead evaporated, leaving the race too close to call in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than five-to-one.
Mr Bloomberg, founder of the financial news and information services company Bloomberg LP, has spent some $50 million of his own money running for mayor, more than anyone in city history. Mr Green has raised and spent $15 million.
After casting his ballot at a public school on Manhattan's Upper East Side Mr Bloomberg said the biggest issues facing New York over the next four years would be security and the economic downturn. Mr Bloomberg has said Mr Green lacks the business acumen to lead New York's recovery while accusing his opponent of indifference to Latinos, a key voting bloc.