I followed (okay, ran) after Michael Bloomberg when he left his press conference on the third floor of the capitol, and chatted with Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, one the mayor’s closest aides and architect of his presidential-style non-campaign.

“You’re my favorite reporter,” he said, in a way that was somewhat less that fully serious. “You write about my favorite subject.”

I asked Sheekey about the recent, unusual criticism from the likes of David Remnick (“the big Presidential tease”), who wants Bloomberg to just say definitely whether or not he‘s running, and Michael Goodwin, who was disappointed about going to Oklahoma to see the mayor make no news.

“It was a great story,” Sheekey said about Oklahoma. “It’s a story the mayor has consistently talked about, which is the need for non-partisanship. That’s a story that started long before this presidential campaign [and] it continued. That’s a story Mike Bloomberg will continue with no matter what he does . And anybody who looks at it will see great consistency with how he’s done it. What did Remnick say?”

Then, turning to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, Sheekey said, “He’s a friend of yours, right? You know all the chattering classes.”

“Did you read the piece in the New Yorker?” Klein said to Sheekey.

“No, he just told me about it,” said Sheekey.

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