New Yorkers cast votes today in a mayoral race between Democrat Mr Mark Green and Republican Mr Michael Bloomberg to decide who will succeed the popular Mayor of New York, Mr Rudolph Giuliani.
The battle to replace Mayor Giuliani is between Green (56), a political veteran, and Bloomberg (59), a billionaire media mogul who has never before run for public office. The race turned bitter and unexpectedly close in the campaign's 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 Center, the anthrax outbreak, and Mr Giuliani's leadership.
Mayor Giuliani, who cannot stand for a third term but has endorsed 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 of the thousands of victims of September 11th.
Hoping to win last-minute votes before polls opened at 6 a.m. (11 a.m. Irish time), Green and Bloomberg ran around-the-clock tours of the city and flooded TV and radio stations with commercials. Voting booths will remain open until 9 p.m. (2 a.m. Irish time).
Election officials said it was too early to tell how large the turnout would be for what many analysts and politicians have said is one of the most crucial mayoral contests in the city's history.
Green led Bloomberg by double digits in surveys just two weeks ago in the contest. But that lead evaporated, leaving the race too close to call in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 5-to-1.
Bloomberg, founder of 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 election history. Green has spent $15 million.