NEW YORK (AP) — Wearing his signature red beret, Curtis Sliwa is on television, stroking one of his 16 rescue cats in a campaign ad. He’s in the subway with his Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol. He’s breaking up restaurant brawls in Little Italy and blaming the mafia and the mayor when he’s banned from judging the meatball-eating contest.This is the how Republican nominee is mounting an improbable quest to become New York City’s mayor — always in his red hat.Sliwa has spent decades as a stunt-loving New York character, with a knack for keeping news cameras around and a history of bombastic statements. He once survived an attempted mob hit incited by his radio commentary.The Republican insists his campaign this year is not a long shot, but more of a David-and-Goliath slingshot, with Sliwa as a streetwise “man of the people” speaking out about crime and disorder. “I’m the only Republican who can go into neighborhoods where the only Republican they’ve ever seen is Abraham Lincoln on a $5...
