NY mayoral challenger gets lukewarm Obama backing

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The long-shot Democratic challenger to Mayor Michael Bloomberg is scarcely a household name to many New Yorkers, and his campaign got little help on that front on Friday from the White House.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama, Robert Gibbs, delivered a lukewarm endorsement to Democratic challenger Bill Thompson at the daily White House briefing on Friday, without ever mentioning his name.

"The president is the leader of the Democratic party and, as that, would support the Democratic nominee," Gibbs said.

"The president obviously has had a chance throughout campaigning and in his time both as a candidate and as a president to meet, know and work with Mayor Bloomberg, and obviously has a tremendous amount of respect for what he's done as well," he continued.

"As the leader of the Democratic Party, he supports the Democratic nominee."

Bloomberg, a longtime Democrat, became a Republican when he first ran for mayor in 2001 and has since dropped that party affiliation as well.

Running for his third term, Bloomberg will appear on the ballot in November on the Republican and Independence party lines.

Thompson, who is New York City comptroller, trails in polls by double-digit margins and has been heavily outspent by Bloomberg.

The mayor, a self-made billionaire, has poured $65 million of his personal wealth into his campaign coffers. Thompson has raised $5.6 million and obtained almost $2.5 million in matching public funds, according to campaign filings.

Gibbs' remarks came in a briefing that focused on news Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and came in response to a question from a reporter for New York's Daily News.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Eric Walsh)