Lhota Says He's Starkly Different From De Blasio Republican New York City mayoral nominee Joe Lhota says there are stark differences between him and his likely Democratic opponent, Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH'-zee-oh). Lhota won his party's nomination Tuesday. De Blasio emerged as the Democratic front-runner. Lhota says he agrees with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's policies 85 percent of the time. Lhota says de Blasio's approach of starting "from scratch on almost everything is a repudiation of everything great that's happened over the last 20 years." He spoke Thursday on Fox-TV's "Good Day New York." Lhota says his greatest strength is that he will talk to anybody. Asked if he'll seek the support of the Rev. Al Sharpton, Lhota says he's spoken to him in the past and will speak to him in the future.