Rudy Giuliani making the case for Joe Lhota's candidacy for mayor. (Photo: Jacob Kornbluh/YouTube)

At a fund-raiser last night for his one-time deputy mayor Joe Lhota, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani not only came out swinging against Democratic officials' counter-terrorism policies, he blasted this year's crop of Democratic mayoral candidates, saying neither they--nor President Barack Obama--had ever held a real job.

Mr. Giuliani, one of Mr. Lhota's biggest backers as he seeks the Republican nomination for City Hall's top job, touted his former attack dog's record in the private sector and as the city's once-budget director.

"That's exactly what we need. Not these career politicians who have never really held a job. Like our President, who never really held a job,” he said, to laughs, according to footage of the speech at the Excelsior Grand in Staten Island, captured by blogger Jacob Kornbluh.

Mr. Giuliani went after the Democratic candidates for being too closely aligned with local labor unions, whose endorsements are expected to play a key role in the race.

“The Democratic candidates are going to be owned by the unions,” he said, according to the footage, pointing to the fact that all of the city's unions are now operating without contracts, waiting to strike more sympathetic deals with the next administration.

"What they’re signaling to us is they want a lot more money than they think Mike Bloomberg would give them,” said Mr. Giuliani, warning that, with the wrong person in charge, the city could easily endure a repeat of the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, when the city was on the verge of bankruptcy. “What they are threatening to do is to take that crisis into ruination which will result in ridiculously high taxes and the fleeing of business from Nee York City."

Mr. Giuliani also did his best to woo the  Staten Island crowd, touting Mr. Lhota's "obsession” with the borough, which Mr. Giuliani carried to Gracie Mansion when he first won.

“You are the hard-core middle class and upper-middle class of this city. We need a mayor who understands that this city is not all about Manhattan,” he said, in a not-so-subtle shot at the current mayor. “You haven’t had that, really, since I was the mayor."

In fact, Mr. Giuliani appeared to have a generally gloomy view of the city under Mayor Bloomberg, lamenting that things just can't get any worse.

"With all the crime and all the deficits and all the unemployment and all of the welfare, my slogan was, ‘Vote for me, you can't do any worse,'" Mr. Giuliani said of his own campaign platform. "Well you know something? That slogan applies today. You can't do any worse. And in fact you will do worse, a lot worse, if you don't elect Joe Lhota.”

Still, he acknowledged that Mr. Lhota is facing an uphill battle for the mayoralty. While Mr. Lhota leads his fellow Republicans, he remains far behind all of the major Democratic candidates in recent polls. Mr. Giuliani urged the crowd to pony up contributions to make him a viable candidate.

“We cannot give this city back to a bunch of Democratic machine politicians,” he argued.

We reached out to the Democratic candidates, but did not immediately receive any responses.

(Photo: Mirocznik campaign)

For local races, New York City overwhelmingly tilts towards the Democratic Party and there are only a handful of Council campaigns with the potential to be competitive in this November. The race for outgoing GOP Councilman Jimmy Oddo's seat is likely to be one of them. And, according to a source active in local politics, the Democratic establishment is backing Mendy Mirocznik, a non-practing rabbi and lawyer, for the Staten Island district.

“We’re seeing fewer education dollars, less transportation options, deteriorating roads and there seems to be no relief in sight," Mr. Mirocznik said in a statement announcing his candidacy yesterday. "Meanwhile, our small-businesses, the economic engine, of our community are struggling to survive - that is not a recipe for recovery. We need an advocate who will reverse this trend and bring real results for Mid-Islanders, and I believe I can do that.”

Despite the establishment support, Mr. Mirocznik, who also serves as the President of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Staten Island, is set to face primary opposition. John Mancuso, who waged an unsuccessful campaign against Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis last year, announced his own campaign over the weekend.

The Republican field is also heating up, with Mr. Oddo strongly supporting his chief of staff, Steve Matteo, for the job, as elements of the Staten Island GOP back party vice chair Lisa Giovinazzo.

Joe Lhota

Staten Island's Republican Party may be in turmoil, but GOP mayoral hopeful Joe Lhota said he's confident he'll still win them over.

"I am," Mr. Lhota said yesterday at the Brooklyn Young Republican Club when asked about his confidence in earning the entity's support. “I am very comfortable in my position with the leadership on Staten Island."

The previous head of the Staten Island GOP, Bob Scamardella, said he'd probably endorse Mr. Lhota but surprisingly stepped down at the end of February. Though the party has been plagued by infighting, it appears they have settled on a new leader: former community board chairman John Antoniello. According to the Staten Island Advance, Mr. Antoniello was an ally of disgraced former Congressman Vito Fossella, who endorsed one of Mr. Lhota's rivals, billionaire John Catsimatidis, for mayor. Mr. Lhota said he was unconcerned by the development.

"I'm not bothered by it at all," he said, declining to elaborate further. "I will win in the primary in September. I will have more than enough support on Staten Island."

If the Staten Island Republican Party backs either Mr. Lhota or Mr. Catsimatidis, former Democrat and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión will likely be unable to run as a Republican for mayor, as he is seeking to do. He has secured the support of two counties, but needs a third and Staten Island is the only uncommitted borough organization in the race. Mr.  Carrión has vowed to run for mayor on the Independence Party's ballot position regardless.

Joe Lhota. (Photo: Getty)

Guy Molinari may be raging at Joe Lhota, but it doesn't seem that anger has filtered up to the highest levels of the Staten Island Republican Party.

Mr. Molinari, a significant local power broker and a former borough president, unleashed on Mr. Lhota in the Staten Island Advance today, announcing he would withdraw his endorsement and instead back another Republican candidate, former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, for mayor. Mr. Molinari said Mr. Lhota had not even returned his phone messages and thus was undeserving of his support.

"What the hell is going on?" Mr. Molinari charged. "They're making me look bad. I still don't have the courtesy of a stupid phone call."

The development is significant because Mr. Carrión is not a registered Republican and needs the blessing of three of the city's five Republican county chairmen to run in the party's primary. He currently has only two chairs and one chair remains uncommitted--Staten Island's Bob Scamardella. However, Mr. Scamardella has previously indicated he was likely to back Mr. Lhota for the city's top job and he told Politicker today that Mr. Molinari's endorsement-switch had not changed his support.

"I can only tell you as chairman that I'm leaning towards an endorsement of Joe Lhota, and from that perspective nothing has changed," Mr. Scarmadella said. "The most qualified for the job seems to be Joe Lhota."

He further said he had not personally felt snubbed by the Lhota campaign.

Bill de Blasio in the Bronx.

It snowed, hailed and rained on Bill de Blasio's parade. The public advocate spent Monday, his first official day as a mayoral candidate, on a journey that spanned over sixty miles and all five boroughs, a dramatic, physical manifestation of his plan to propel himself to Gracie Mansion by reaching out to disenfranchised residents in the far flung corners of the city and channeling populist backlash against the policies of Mayor Michael Bloomberg along the way.

Mr. de Blasio began his morning on the Upper East Side for a taping of Fox 5's Good Day New York. He then journeyed to greet commuters in Washington Heights, the first of five neighborhoods on his marathon route.

Politicker caught up with Mr. de Blasio at the second stop on his tour, a bus station on East Fordham Road in the Bronx where a handful of volunteers stood with the candidate in a relentless flash snowstorm as he shook hands with passers-by.

“This is Super Bowl weather,” proclaimed Wilfredo Pagan, one of the volunteers. "Where there's a Bill there's a way."

Few of the commuters we saw stopped in the inclement weather for more than a quick handshake with the candidate during his twenty-five minutes in the Bronx. Most of the people he greeted got a brisk, cheery salutation that became Mr. de Blasio's refrain throughout the day.

"How you doing? I'm Bill de Blasio. I'm running for mayor."

Though the wet, frigid conditions seemed to be quite literally dampening the response, Mr. de Blasio doesn't plan to let Mother Nature slow down his campaign.

"My background is as a grassroots organizer and you never let weather get in your way," he told us. "You know, the clock is running."

Before his next stop in Queens, Mr. de Blasio phoned in for an appearance on The Brian Lehrer Show where he continued to hammer home the messages he was trying to demonstrate with his citywide tour.

"I think it’s no secret this mayor has a pretty elitist worldview. He clearly doesn’t see what life is like the farther you go out in the boroughs," Mr. de Blasio said of Mr. Bloomberg, the man he hopes to succeed in City Hall. "The mayor’s field of vision doesn’t get that far out of Manhattan."

Conditions had not improved when Mr. de Blasio reached Jackson Heights, though the elevated train tracks above the the 74th Street-Broadway subway station shielded him from the small hailstones that were beginning to hit the streets. The candidate leapt back and forth trying to position his lanky six-foot-five-inch frame in the ideal position in front of the station's doors.

"We've got to find where people are flowing," he said anxiously.

After a few adjustments, Mr. de Blasio was clearly satisfied.

"Alright, we're getting our flow here, we're getting our flow," he said to himself, hopping back and forth on the balls of his feet like a boxer. "This is second nature."

Mr. de Blasio is confident his pavement pounding approach will leave voters convinced he is better suited to address the needs of the entire city than his rivals.

"If you’re going to change the status quo in this city, it’s going to take a forceful approach," he told us. "I won’t speak to the details of my opponents, but I think the approach that I take is the one that actually helps to achieve some real change. ... Some of my opponents believe in making that change, some don’t. Some are doing something about that, some aren’t. I think that what voters will see in this city that I back up my words with action."

Joanne Naumann, one of cadre of volunteers who showed up to help Mr. de Blasio campaign in Queens was certainly convinced he would be a better mayor than the other Democrat who currently has a wide lead in the primary polls, Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

"Christine Quinn, that's our rival, she's a Republican," Ms. Naumann said to a man who stood with her on the sidewalk watching Mr. de Blasio.

Later on, we informed Ms. Naumann that Ms. Quinn and Mr. de Blasio are both Democrats.

"I don't know exactly what she represents, but I'm with Bill," she said.

Bill de Blasio in Boro Park.

Less than an hour later, Mr. de Blasio was in Brooklyn at the senior center in the Boro Park Jewish Community Council where several of the elderly women he met also seemed confused about the candidates in the mayor's race.

"He’s good-looking. He looks like, like a man!" one proclaimed after meeting Mr. de Blasio, before adding, “Koch is finished, Mayor Koch is finished.”

“Koch is gone, we’ve got Bloomberg,” grumbled Gizela Jeramias, who was seated next to her.

When asked what she thought about the current crop of Democratic mayoral candidates, Ms. Jeramias was blunt.

“I don’t know anything about them,” she said.

Mr. de Blasio worked the tables, which seemed to be organized by nationality. He greeted a group of Italian women in their native tongue. Among a group of Hungarians, Mr. de Blasio sought common ground after meeting a centenarian Holocaust survivor.

"I read a very powerful book by George Soros's father ... the story of how people had to find their way to survive when the Nazis came in," said Mr. de Blasio. "Very powerful, very powerful."

"Soros doesn't like Israel," one member of the Hungarian contingent interjected. "That I don't like."

"Well, no, but I'm talking about the story his father wrote about how they survived the Holocaust," he responded. "A very powerful story in Budapest 1944 and '45. That story was extraordinary."

International tensions also reared their head when a woman who identified herself as Czech sidled up to us and whispered, "Hungary is the worst. … Hungarian is a shit language."

Mr. de Blasio knelt next to the 100-year-old Holocaust survivor and marveled as one of the workers in the senior center explained she kept busy with word search puzzles. Another woman at the table offered the secret to their longevity.

"We Hungarians live more," said the woman. "Like me."

"Yes, a lively people the Hungarians," Mr. de Blasio said. "Beautiful."

"You think how old I am?" the woman asked in broken English.

"You? I'm going to say 65," surmised Mr. de Blasio.

The woman informed him that he was off by three decades.

"No you are not," said Mr. de Blasio, feigning disbelief. "You are not. ... What do they drink in the water in Hungary?"

Though Mr. de Blasio clearly charmed many of the women at the senior center, he didn't seem to have gotten through to the centenarian. We asked her whether he had her vote.

"I don't understand what you say," she said.

After Mr. de Blasio thanked the women for the "great pleasure" of their company, he got in his black hybrid SUV and headed to Staten Island. Standing in front of the New Dorp railroad station, Mr. de Blasio quizzed his volunteers on a series of statistics.

Did they know Staten Island is part of the "most Italian-American congressional district by population percentage in the United States of America?" Were they aware New York hasn't had a Democratic, Italian-American mayor since Vincent Impellitteri's term ended in 1953?

His questions were clearly designed to show why Mr. de Blasio believes he could be able to bring the Democratic majority on Staten Island, which often votes Republican, into the outerborough coalition he hopes will propel him to City Hall. The final query in Mr. de Blasio's pop quiz impromptu pop quiz was about the margin of victory in President Barack Obama's recent re-election, which was the largest any incumbent has enjoyed since Ronald Reagan in 1984. Mr. de Blasio described this as "an extraordinary statement on the Obama campaign, considering they were goners in the eyes of certain analysts." Since the Obama campaign was known for the same type of grassroots approach Mr. de Blasio aims to employ, the second message behind his political statistics test was also obvious; candidates who are behind in the polls, like Mr. de Blasio, can pull off improbable victories.

Mr. de Blasio also offered further insight on the reasons for his optimism about how he will perform against Ms. Quinn and the other Democrats he will be pitted against in the primary election later this year.

"I think, if it's a question of what people are feeling and do they constitute a majority, there's no question in my mind that the things I'm talking about are what the majority of Democrats care about," he explained. "I think that means, in a primary where it's crucial to turn out your vote, that we're going to have a lot of folks who connect with my message."

One prominent naysayer has been Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson who has repeatedly argued Mr. de Blasio and other candidates who are focusing on criticizing Mayor Bloomberg are making a mistake given the mayor's high approval ratings. This is another point on which Mr. de Blasio believes his work on the city's streets will defy the polling data.

Bill de Blasio standing in Staten Island.

"You can talk about all the poll numbers you want, but that doesn't reflect the reality on the ground. … I think when you talk to active Democrats, there's no question that they are not satisfied. They don't think the status quo is sufficient," said Mr. de Blasio. "So, you know, Howard can keep falling back on poll numbers, but that's not how elections work. We're about to have a real debate in this city, something I don't think we've had enough of in the last few years. And I think when that debate ensues, that people are going to embrace the notion of some real changes that help people in middle class neighborhoods, working class neighborhoods, who just aren't being reached by the current policies."

In Staten Island, Mr. de Blasio met a man named Rich who seemed to prove his point.

"I'm Bill de Blasio. I'm running for mayor," he said as he shook the man's hand. "How you doing?"

Rich, who was wearing a colorful knit cap and had a pair of massive white headphones perched atop his head was quick to respond.

"I hope you get elected,' he said. "I hope someone better than Bloomberg gets elected."

"We're ready for something new aren't we?" Mr. de Blasio asked.

"Yes, we are. The city needs a change," said Rich. "The way we're going now, we're not going to survive another year."

"I'm ready. I thank you. I agree with you," Mr. de Blasio said as he let go of Rich's hand. "Keep me in mind."

As Rich walked away, one of Mr. de Blasio's volunteers chased after him to get his name and contact information. In their haste, they nearly fell to the ground after slipping on the snowy sidewalk.

Once two trains came and went from the railroad station, Mr. de Blasio was finished with Staten Island. As he walked back to his car for the last event of the day, taping another TV appearance at NY1's studios in Manhattan, a smiling Mr. de Blasio addressed his team.

"We have completed the mission," he said.

(Photo: Getty)

M.T.A. Chairman Joe Lhota made quite the splash earlier this week when he announced he will retire at the end of the year in order to contemplate a mayoral bid as a Republican. At the same time he made the announcement, however, Mr. Lhota's agency approved a round of fare hikes, including an increase on the unpopular Verrazano-Narrows Bridge toll, which has some GOP politicos wondering if his political brand took a blow in a critical Republican constituency.

“I can already see the knives coming out about a $15 dollar toll on the Verrazano,” Republican consultant Gerry O’Brien told Politicker. “The M.T.A. is always one of the political entities under attack from politicians.”

However, Bob Scamardella, Staten Island’s Republican county chairman who has spoken approvingly about Mr. Lhota's candidacy in the past, argued Mr. Lhota's broader profile will be at stake, not just one issue.

“If the question is, is he somebody I would consider supporting, the answer to that question is an unqualified 'yes,'” he said, while admitting the hike “would weigh in his disfavor, that the toll issue is an important one on Staten Island. But Mr. Lhota’s record has to be weighed in its entirety by me and I think would be all of the voters.”

Unlike the four other county GOP chairs, Mr. Scamardella has yet to signal his strong support for a particular candidate. The Queens and Manhattan county organizations are in the corner of billionaire John Catsimatidis, while the Bronx and Brooklyn chairs have said they support former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión. But with its strong Republican base and Italian-American community, Staten Island's voters would seem an important voting bloc for Mr. Lhota's still-hypothetical campaign. On the other hand, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is reportedly an "enthusiastic supporter" of Mr. Lhota, who once worked in his administration, and may be able to provide some local political cover.

Nevertheless, protests against hikes have become almost a ritual on the island, and though Mr. Lhota was chair of the M.T.A. for just under a year, he could easily face attacks on the hot-button issue. Indeed, one of his Republican rivals, DOE Fund founder George McDonald, wasted little time blasting Mr. Lhota.

"As Staten Islanders struggle to recover from the devastation wrought by Super Storm Sandy, it is mind boggling that the MTA and its Chairman would approve a $15 cash toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge,” Mr. McDonald said in a statement yesterday. “Just weeks after Sandy and months after the last Port Authority toll increase, the people of Staten Island deserve economic relief, not another body blow."

Even Democrats have been near-giddy. A top consultant for Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a likely mayoral candidate, immediately slammed the various fare hikes as soon as they were announced, and Kevin Elkins, the executive director of Staten Island's Democratic Party, didn't exactly mince words when Politicker inquired about Mr. Lhota's candidacy.

"Mark Sanchez has a better chance of starting as a quarterback for the Jets next year than Joe Lhota has of becoming mayor," Mr. Elkins said. "Staten Island has often provided the margin of victory for mayoral candidates and we're not going to vote for the former head of the M.T.A. which just approved another toll hike. Tolls are one of the biggest issues on the island and instead of plotting to run for mayor, perhaps he should have spent his time trying to figure out how to alleviate the M.T.A.'s budgetary woes without using Staten Islanders as an A.T.M."

For his part, Mr. Lhota said the fare increases were a simple budgetary necessity, but he seemed to acknowledge the political danger they brought to his future. The timing of his resignation announcement was “a profile in courage," he said.

James Molinaro (Photo: StatenIslandUSA.com)

Today was a big day for Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro. Two weeks after he was on NBC complaining his borough was being ignored in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Mr. Molinaro spent a substantial amount of time talking with President Barack Obama as the commander in chief toured areas of Staten Island that were devastated by the storm. Mr. Molinaro also encountered a man who is apparently a very, very big fan of his work. 

As Mr. Molinaro chatted with Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Cedar Grove Avenue while the president talked with residents, a man in a sweatshirt called out to him.

"You going to run again Jim?" the man asked.

"I can't," responded Mr. Molinaro, who is term-limited.

"The man next to you could make it happen," the man said gesturing toward the mayor.

Mr. Bloomberg laughed.

"Make it happen what?" Mr. Molinaro said. "I'm retired."

When he won his third and final term, Mr. Molinaro said he hopes Councilman James Oddo will succeed him in the borough president's office. We'll see if Mr. Oddo is able to inspire the same level of ardent devotion among Staten Islanders.

President Obama speaking with a Staten Islander on Cedar Grove Avenue this afternoon. (Photo: Getty)

President Obama's trip to Staten Island today was filled with thanks from local elected officials and residents who praised him for showing up and for the government's response to Hurricane Sandy. However, there were also signs some Staten Islanders were dissatisfied with the aid they've received since the storm.

The president concluded his visit on Cedar Grove Avenue, which was heavily damaged by the hurricane. Several homes on the stretch of the block he visited were destroyed and marked with red signs indicating they were "unsafe" for entry. The sidewalks were caked with deep mud and, across from the podium where the president and other elected officials made speeches, the wreckage of a boat sat where it had washed up in the grass.

As the motorcade made its way to the speech site, we saw one resident holding a sign that said, "Thanks USA." A young girl wearing pink fleece "Hello Kitty" pants who stood in a group of people the president spoke with also had a sign, albeit one that expressed more complicated sentiments. It was a piece of cardboard that said "Help Us Obama Please Now!" on one side and "USA God Bless America" on the other.

Politicker was unable to hear what the president said to the group, but, whatever feelings they may have had about the government's response to the devastating storm, his words brought several rounds of cheers, as they did earlier in the day when he greeted residents at disaster relief tents near Miller Army Air Field. But, along with the applause, the afternoon event had something else in common with the president's appearance at the tents--the first and only resident we were able to speak with expressed dissatisfaction with some of the help they have received since the storm.

At the tents, a man named Al Bevacqua said "it seems like FEMA can’t do anything without the insurance companies," which he accused of putting him and other Staten Islanders "on hold." On Cedar Grove Avenue, just before the president spoke to the group we talked to a woman named Stacy Chifando who said she had suffered serious consequences from the storm and was disappointed with the help she subsequently received from FEMA.

"We just really want to get back on our feet and FEMA's not doing too much to help us right now," said Ms. Chifando.

She went on to explain that many of the residents had not received the funds for temporary housing they hoped to obtain from FEMA.

"They tell us we need computers, but there's no power. We don't have computers," she said.

Ms. Chifando told us the first floor of her home on nearby Sea Foam Street was "wiped out," her car was "totaled" and she still was without power or heat.

"But I have a house to return to and everybody's safe, so I really can't complain too much. People around here lost everything," Ms. Chifando said.

In the speech he made after speaking with the residents, President Obama praised local officials and government agencies for their response to the storm, but he also acknowledged there is still work to be done to repair the communities hardest hit by the hurricane.

"We are now still in the process of recovery. As you can see, as you travel around parts of Staten Island, as we flew over parts of--other parts of the city and the region that had been impacted, there is still a lot of cleanup to do. People still need emergency help. They still need heat. They still need power. They still need food. They still need shelter. Kids are still trying to figure out where they’re going to school," the president said. "So there’s a lot of short-term, immediate stuff that has to be dealt with. And we are going to make sure that we stay here as long as people need that immediate help. That’s FEMA’s primary task. And we’ll be coordinating closely with state and local governments to make sure folks are getting the short-term help."

To aid with this long-term recovery effort, President Obama promised he would "be coming back in the future  to make sure that we have followed through on that commitment." He also named HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to serve as his "point person" on the rebuilding process.

"We thought it'd be good to have a New Yorker who's going to be the point person, and so. our outstanding HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who used to be the head of the New York Housing Authortiy, so he knows a little bit about New York and building, is going to be our point person," said President Obama.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Andrew Cuomo, who spoke prior to the president, were unambiguous in their praise for the government's response to Hurricane Sandy, which Mr. Cuomo described as an "unprecedented federal presence and effort" in a powerful speech where he expressed  complete confidence New York will recover from the storm.

"Seventeen days ago, on October 29, everything changed for New York. Sixty New Yorkers lost their lives, tens of thousands saw their homes damaged or destroyed," said Governor Cuomo. "We must re-knit the fabric of tattered communities, we must rethink and redesign for the long term, because extreme weather, as we have learned, is the new normal. But we are New Yorkers, Mr. President, we are tough and we are resilient and we will overcome and we will be the better for it."

After the speeches, President Obama parted ways with the local officials.

"Alright guys, hang in there," he said.

Before departing in his motorcade, the president walked over to another group of locals for a final round of handshakes, photos and hugs.

"Hey everybody. Let me shake hands with some folks," he said. "How's it going everybody?"

At that point, we were ushered back into the press vans and were unable to hear their answers.

President Barack Obama boards Air Force One. (Photo: Getty)

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, President Barack Obama toured New Jersey, but, at the request of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, did not go to the hard-hit areas of New York City due to concerns that he would drain emergency resources. That changed today, however, and Mr. Obama is currently in Staten Island along with Mr. Bloomberg, Governor Andrew Cuomo and other elected officials. According to our own Hunter Walker, who's traveling with the president, Mr. Obama surveyed the damage to Breezy Point and the Rockaways from the air, and received a fairly positive response when he landed in Staten Island.

"A group of residents who were here at the center, which was not closed today, are cordoned off about 200 feet from the tents," he wrote. "They cheered when POTUS arrived. Several became dismayed and shouted 'Get out of the way' when the press corps blocked their view of the president."

Additionally, Mr. Obama is scheduled to observe federal response teams in action. "After visiting the FEMA tent, President Obama will stop in a Small Business Administration tent," the pool report continued. "He will then greet a line of disaster relief workers with FEMA Corps, an AmeriCorps program started in 2009. The third tent he will visit is for food distribution."

After that, Mr. Obama, Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Cuomo will visit a street heavily damaged by the storm, and each of them are expected to deliver remarks.

Update (1:45 p.m.): More details from the pool report:

Inside the Small Business Administration tent, President Obama and Congressman Grimm spoke with some of the relief workers and local residents. The president hugged several people and also posed for photos. Pool's vantage point was about twenty feet away through a small opening in the tent so it was difficult to overhear their conversations. We overheard the president tell one woman "it's your anniversary." He told a relief worker "You guys are doing great work" before taking a picture with them and promising "We're going to do a big FEMA picture later."

Schumer, Gillibrand and Cuomo stood outside talking. We asked them for their thoughts and Schumer suggested we "wait until later."

When Obama left the tent, he greeted NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly with an enthusiastic handshake-slash-hug.

"You've been busy," POTUS said to Mr. Kelly.

We could not hear the rest of their conversation.

After visiting the SBA tent and greeting Mr. Kelly outside, Obama posed for photos with the FEMA Corps volunteers. Pool overheard him telling them something about how happy he was "having young people like you who are involved like this making a difference in people's lives."

Next, POTUS made his way to the cordoned off group of cheering residents many of whom shouted his name and "we love you!" Pool saw one woman wearing the president's photo on the brim of her winter hat. Along with the governor, mayor and senators, the president worked the line shaking hands and taking photos. As he walked away he shouted back, "God bless you."

He then proceeded to the next tent which had a sign outside saying "Distribution Loading Area." On the way in, he dropped a small piece of paper and picked it up. Inside there were canned foods, cleaning materials, blankets, gloves and other supplies. Some residents were inside picking things up. The president and other officials posed for more photos and spoke with them.

Pool talked with a man who said his name was Al Bevacqua and he was from nearby New Dorp. We asked what he had to say to the president.

"We just want our houses fixed. We just need help. It seems like FEMA can't do anything without the insurance companies. They help with goods but we need the insurance companies," he said. "There's a lot of help out there. The community's been off the charts. Government's been doing what they can...but the insurance companies just keep people on hold. The community's been tremendous."

He later got a chance to speak with the president, but we could not hear.

(Photo: YouTube)

Hurricane Sandy has apparently brought together a pair of borough presidents who previously clashed over pop sensation Lady Gaga. The last time we saw Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer mentioned in the same breath, they had a tiff over Mr. Molinaro's claim that Ms. Gaga was "a slut." Now, they have teamed up for post-Sandy relief work in Staten Island.

In later September, Mr. Molinaro went off on Ms. Gaga after she smoked marijuana on stage in Amsterdam. At an anti-drug event a few days later, Mr. Molinaro had harsh words for the singer, declaring, “To me, she's not an actress, she is a slut, in the pure, in the pure meaning of the word."

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who is friendly with Ms. Gaga's family took offense, however, and rushed to defend the singer's honor.

“Lady Gaga’s work is a symbol of individuality and artistic expression. In addition to her artistic pursuits, she is a social justice activist and a real leader for marriage equality in this country,” he told us. “And no matter which continent Gaga happens to be in today, she remains an Upper West Sider at heart.”

Mr. Stringer, a potential candidate for mayor in 2013, was rewarded with a tweet from the star herself, praising his political integrity in front of her millions of followers.

However, in the wake of the hurricane, Mr. Molinaro and Mr. Stringer have apparently made peace. Today,  Politicker spotted a photo of the two borough presidents working together to deliver a few hundred blankets Mr. Stringer obtained from a private donor to Staten Islanders left in the cold by Hurricane Sandy. It looks like time--and storms, heals all wounds.