FOR THE RECORD

If you believe the findings of a Quinnipiac College poll released last week, Mayor Bloomberg would have a hard time claiming favorite son status if he ran for President in 2008. On the bright side for the Mayor, his numbers on that score are slightly better than the ones he put up at a similar point in advance of his re-election last year.

The poll found that despite a 72 percent approval rating for Mr. Bloomberg among the 1,041 registered city voters it surveyed, only 40 percent said they would definitely or probably vote to send him to the White House.

As Quinnipiac polling director Mickey Carroll noted, one reason for the discrepancy may be that 62 percent of those surveyed don't believe Mr. Bloomberg will run for President.

It might also reflect, however, that despite all the work Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey has done to create a groundswell for a Bloomberg candidacy, the Mayor himself hasn't bought into the idea - and we use that phrase literally.

It's been forgotten by most city residents and pundits that early in 2005, Mr. Bloomberg trailed the eventual Democratic nominee for Mayor, Freddy Ferrer, by 20 points in some polls. Once the rubberband came off the Mayor's campaign bankroll, the pendulum swung sharply in his favor, and he defeated Mr. Ferrer in the November election by nearly that same margin.

It might also be remembered that Mr. Carroll, a puckish former political reporter for the New York Times and Newsday, during a mid-2003 survey asked voters whether Mr. Bloomberg was a guy they'd like to have dinner with. About 61 percent of them answered no, even though they undoubtedly realized the Mayor wouldn't force them to split the check.

We're not sure how the dinner-with-the-Mayor question would poll now, but considering how he overcame the response back then to easily gain a second term, our guess is that Mr. Sheekey doesn't have to deflate his trial balloon just yet.

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A Civil Service Technical Guild vice president who recently accused a political foe of using sexual innuendo to demean District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts apparently wasn't always such a stickler for sensitivity.

The vice president, Michelle Keller, last month pushed through a resolution at a Tech Guild delegate meeting criticizing Guild Housing Authority Chapter President Mitchell Feder for describing Ms. Roberts as "in the Mayor's pocket" and "on her knees" in an attempt to get a decent contract.

Most people would have interpreted Mr. Feder's comments as figures of speech suggesting that Ms. Roberts was not being militant enough in her dealings with City Hall, but Ms. Keller viewed his remarks as sexist and racist. She persuaded a majority of the delegates to concur with her resolution.

It turns out, however, that Ms. Keller once scored rather low in the area of basic respect for others. In 1998, when she was president of her chapter's election committee, a potential opponent for her post, Robert F. Parkin, asked for a postponement of the chapter's nominations meeting. Because it fell on a Jewish holiday, Mr. Parkin, who is an observant Jew, would have been unable to attend.

Ms. Keller refused his request, prompting Mr. Parkin to file a complaint with the Judicial Panel of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. A letter was sent to the panel on his behalf by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. The Judicial Panel ordered a new election on the grounds that Ms. Keller did not notify Mr. Parkin that he could not compete for the office unless he attended the meeting. Ms. Keller prevailed in the re-run election.

When asked about the incident last week, Ms. Keller said she did not remember it. When a reporter refreshed her memory, she declined to comment.

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This was Mayor Bloomberg describing Lillian Roberts's negotiating style: "She has been very persistent. She doesn't do it screaming, but she does it loudly."