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Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg Talk Jobs, Politics at Breakfast Meeting

By DNAinfo Staff on August 5, 2010 4:12pm

Mayor Bloomberg Meets with Vice President Joe Biden at Gracie Mansion. August 5, 2010.
Mayor Bloomberg Meets with Vice President Joe Biden at Gracie Mansion. August 5, 2010.
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Courtesy of the Mayor's Office

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CITY HALL — Mayor Michael Bloomberg sat down with Vice President Joe Biden over breakfast at Gracie Mansion Thursday to discuss jobs, education and "a little bit of politics."

It was the mayor's second meeting with a top Obama Administration figure this week — he met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday.

"We talked about everything under the sun, except the weather," the mayor told reporters of his meeting with Biden. "We talked about one of this administration’s great concerns which I think they’re right: jobs. How you bring jobs back to America?"

Also on the table: education, how the economy in New York City is doing and "a little bit of politics as you would expect," he said.

Joe Biden and Mayor Bloomberg shake hands in June beside the Brooklyn Bridge.
Joe Biden and Mayor Bloomberg shake hands in June beside the Brooklyn Bridge.
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DNAinfo/ Josh Williams

Bloomberg has been in the national spotlight all week, attracting headlines with his emotional defense of the Ground Zero Mosque and and his back-and-forth with Geithner Sunday and Monday over letting Bush's tax cuts expire.

Thursday's meal was a friendly affair, but Bloomberg and Biden have sparred in the past. In February, Biden accused Bloomberg of inflating the estimated cost of holding the 9/11 terror trials in New York, a charge that Bloomberg quickly denied.

Bloomberg had only kind works for the often outspoken vice president Thursday.

"Let me tell you, Joe Biden is a charming guy," he said. "He’s very smart, and he has a lot of experience and I think the president probably relies on him for a lot of advice."

He also joked about the fact that Biden is only one year his junior.

"I can’t find anybody that’s older than me," he joked. "I think they’re all retired, gone or something or other."

Later in the day Biden's motorcade was reportedly involved in a minor accident on the way to JFK airport, but Biden's car was not involved and nobody was hurt, according to the Huffington Post.

Biden and Bloomberg appeared together last in early June when they announced the beginning of new repairs to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Biden and his wife, Jill, have been vacationing nearby in the Hamptons this week, Politico reported.