Hoping to silence doubters who said he’d never pick a fight with a billionaire incumbent, City Controller William Thompson launches his mayoral campaign Web site Wednesday.

He’s holding fund-raisers this week and next – including one Tuesday night that attracted vintage rapper Kurtis Blow.

Thompson is also moving quickly to appoint a campaign manager.

“He clearly wants to prove that he’s serious and that people should not doubt him,” said Hank Sheinkopf, who ran Thompson’s two controller campaigns.

Thompson has said his campaign would soldier on despite Mayor Bloomberg’s stunning change to the City Charter that lets him seek a third term.

“I am running for mayor. I can’t be more clear,” Thompson said in October.

But skeptics have continued to whisper that he’d end up running again for his old seat – at least until recently.

“If he was running for controller, he’s already raised more than he could spend in a controller’s race,” said Eduardo Castell, a top aide.

Thompson supporters point to the newly registered black voters who came out for Barack Obama and might support Thompson over Bloomberg.

The mayor’s aides aren’t worried.

“His problem is that almost three out of four New Yorkers don’t know anything about him, and having been controller for seven years, having been president of the Board of Ed, having been deputy borough president in the largest borough in the city [Brooklyn], that’s a little surprising,” said Bill Cunningham, a Bloomberg political adviser. “It will be interesting to see how he pulls this off.”

Source: NY Daily News