August 31, 2000 at 06:18:21
(New York-AP) -- Could it be Mayor Geraldo?
Geraldo Rivera tells The New York Times that he wants to run for mayor of New York City -- and he expects the first reaction to be laughter.
But the longtime television journalist who is anchor of a talk show on CNBC, says he's completely serious about an independent campaign for mayor. Rivera says he would pay for his own petition drive to get his name on the ballot.
He says the campaign is "just an exploration" for now, and he's considering commissioning a poll to determine his chances.
Rivera says his qualifications include a long career covering issues of relevance to the city, his background as a lawyer, and, as he put it -- quote -- "My whole gene pool is New York. I'm Puerto Rican and Jewish."
Rivera said he wouldn't enter the primaries or try to win the nomination of any political party.
Rivera's proposed candidacy harks back to a long New York tradition of media figures' seeking to run for City Hall -- reaching at least as far back as the newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1905 and including efforts by conservative writer and talk show host William F. Buckley Junior in 1965 and the novelist Norman Mailer in 1969. All three lost.
