The White House finally came out in support of Bill Thompson in the New York City mayoral election in November, though it would not be an exaggeration to say the endorsement was not overly enthusiastic.

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

Notice that he did not even mention the candidate's name. What's worse, Gibbs then went out of his way to praise incumbent Michael Bloomberg, an independent who is on the Republican ballot line. "The president, obviously, has had a chance to -- 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," Gibbs said.

Gibbs previously had said he wasn't aware if there was an endorsement coming.