Democratic leaders from Washington to Iowa say Mayor de Blasio’s refusal to endorse Hillary Rodham Clinton for president is barely a blip in the campaign and will be ignored by most voters.
“If I was running Hillary Clinton’s campaign, I would not skip a beat right now to focus on [de Blasio’s endorsement]. It’s not an issue, that’s what I’m saying,” Donna Brazile, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, told The Post from Washington.
“If they stopped and focused on this, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, we’d be in deep trouble. Why would it make a difference?” Brazile said.
De Blasio said Sunday he doesn’t have a handle on Clinton’s “vision” for the future, and doubled down on the bizarre pronouncement Tuesday — even though he served as her campaign manager in the 2000 US Senate race.
University of Virginia political-science Professor Larry Sabato dismissed de Blasio’s self-aggrandizing power play as a quirky New York event that would not get much notice elsewhere.
“Nobody has even mentioned it down here [in Virginia]. That’s how significant it is,” Sabato said.
And Democrats in Iowa, where Clinton has been campaigning and de Blasio will appear on Thursday, said that assessment was spot on.
“My reaction was, ‘Yeah, so what?’ ” said Thomas Hart, chair of the Scott County Democratic Party in the Hawkeye State.
“I know this is difficult for New Yorkers to believe, but the mayor of New York has very little impact out in these parts,” said Hart, the former mayor of Davenport.
“I know being mayor is a big deal. I would say it’s kind of a big deal in your own town, but it doesn’t translate beyond that.”
Sabato called de Blasio’s refusal to endorse Clinton “more than passing strange.”
“You don’t play hard to get when a candidate is running nearly unopposed,” he added.
A New York Democratic Party operative who worked on President Obama’s re-election campaign called de Blasio’s non-endorsement “insane,” because he was parroting Republican talking points claiming Clinton is a candidate of the past.
Meanwhile, 92 Democratic congressional lawmakers have already endorsed Clinton — including both New York senators and 13 of the state’s 19 House Democrats, according to a poll by The Hill.
Public Advocate Letitia James also announced she was backing Clinton — one day after saying she still had a “number of questions.”