The Nation: Cool Man for a Hot Seat

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Introducing Ed Koch, almost certainly New York's next mayor

The polls had been closed just ten minutes and 25 seconds when WCBS-XV called him the winner. Sheer primordial joy suffused the face of Edward Irving Koch, who normally has the contemplative features of a Talmudic scholar. The moment passed quickly. Feigning loud dismay, Koch cried: "I want it to be longer! I want to enjoy it more! It's too early! I refuse to accept victory!"

But victory it was. Koch's lead grew to ten points last week over the other Democrat who made it into the primary runoff, New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo. That surprisingly large plurality—78,000 out of 786,000 votes cast—made Koch New York's unofficial mayor-elect, though he must still get through a four-way general election. TIME Bureau Chief Laurence I. Barrett covered Koch's journey from obscurity to fame—and to the precipice of New York's intimidating problems. Barrett's report:

When Koch decided last November to make a serious run for the mayoralty, he had a longer string of negatives than an expansion baseball team in its first season: no public recognition except in his Manhattan congressional district, no money, no powerful political patrons, no neighborhood organization, no personal pizazz. He did have a small cadre of zealous supporters, the most prominent of whom was Bess Myerson, Miss America of 1945, the city's former consumer affairs commissioner and now a savvy political woman about town. In addition, Koch had a strategy. A self-proclaimed "liberal with sanity," he would adjust to the harsh new realities of life in the city by emphasizing management reform and by taking a tough line on fighting crime—including advocating capital punishment. He also became incumbent Mayor Abe Beame's sternest critic.

This approach attracted enough campaign revenue for Koch to hire Political Consultant David Garth, the artful image maker who had helped a flock of long shots win office. In Garth's TV commercials, which became increasingly important as time went on, Koch came on as Mr. Competence. Still, Koch remained back in the pack of seven. Mario Cuomo's belated entry, with strong backing from Governor Hugh Carey, attracted the support and campaign contributions of many mayor makers searching for a new-look liberal.

In the initial free-for-all primary on Sept. 8, Koch startled the experts by finishing ahead of Cuomo, taking 20% of the vote to his opponent's 19%. As the two surviving rivals started their sprint to the runoff, debating 14 times in eleven days, Koch maintained his poise while Cuomo—normally a stylish and thoughtful politician—began to turn testy before the voters. Cuomo also had trouble, as he later frankly admitted, setting forth his own clear-cut positions that differed from Koch's.

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