If you were wedged inside Car 5306 of the A train from Brooklyn to Manhattan on Tuesday morning, you might have been able to see a political blind date.

There, standing near the door, was Annie Davis, a security guard who works in the lobby of the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. There, standing next her, was her breakfast companion earlier that morning in her East New York apartment, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. And for the better part of the half-hour commute, the two chatted about everything ranging from health care (her insurance plan is not good, she said) to crime (the streets are safer, he said) and the economy (we’re doing our best to help all New Yorkers, he said).

“People need a hand up, not a hand out,” Mr. Bloomberg said at one point.
“Exactly,” Ms. Davis concurred.

It was all part of a personalized process that Ms. Davis’ union — Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ — is using to make endorsements for the mayor’s race and other key offices: asking the leading candidates to spend part of a day with one of their members.

Called “Walk a Day in My Shoes,” the event was intended to get the candidates in touch with their working-class constituents. It was a bit forced, at times, what with camera crews everywhere. It was a bit surreal, as well.

Ms. Davis had much more alone time with Mr. Bloomberg than most reporters ever do: roughly two hours after sharing breakfast, a bus ride, a subway ride and part of her shift in Manhattan.

Still, the fact that both candidates carved out significant chunks of their day, with the election still six months away, underscores just how important bread-and-butter issues.

“Walking a day with a working New Yorker shouldn’t just be a prerequisite for our union’s endorsement, but a requirement for the job,” said Mike Fishman, the president of the union, which endorsed Mr. Bloomberg in 2005, and has 70,000 members.

So last week, Lateef Rivers, a 25-year-old security guard at the Brooklyn Municipal Building, spent part of his shift with City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., the likely Democratic nominee, before having a take-out Chinese dinner with him at his apartment.

Both enjoyed the meeting.

“He sounded very much like he could relate to what I’m going through, and he was really laid back,” said Mr. Rivers, who ate dinner with Mr. Thompson in his usual spot, a desk in his bedroom, since there is no dining table in the apartment he shares with seven roommates. “He took of his tie, and loosened the shirt, and he made himself at home.”

Your turn, Mr. Thompson: “He is a very thoughtful young man. And he made it less about himself and more about his co-workers and others who are in a similar situation. There’s no sick time. There’s no vacation time. There are no benefits. And so many of them are raising families. The experience really amplified a lot of what we’re talking about in the campaign: making sure that New York City does a better job at providing for working and middle class New Yorkers.”

On Tuesday, the stage belonged to Mr. Bloomberg, who has frequently been criticized by Mr. Thompson and others for being an out-of-touch billionaire. But those who were thinking that Mr. Bloomberg might stumble upon his own checkout scanner moment a la the first President Bush, or a clumsy John Kerry windsurfing episode, would have been disappointed.

Over a breakfast of coffee, a danish and some fruit, Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Davis talked about health care, crime, smoking, the economy and other topics. Later, as Mr. Bloomberg accompanied Ms. Davis on her daily commute, the conversation turned a bit more personal, in a manner reminiscent of two strangers thrown next to each other on an airplane, and passing the time amiably.

He talked how he was going to the Red Sox-Yankees game tonight with his younger daughter, Georgina, and his 100-year-old mother, Charlotte. Ms. Davis, 54, told him that she was proud of her two great-grandchildren, 12 grandchildren and 6 children.

She then gave him a quick tour of her workplace at 125 Worth Street, where she works in the lobby, monitoring the X-ray machines and metal detectors. And at a brief news conference afterwards, she declared that she would vote for him.
“He’s a person just like we are,” she said.

Mr. Bloomberg was clearly in a good mood, too.

“We were talking before about crime, and the subways, and what do you see, over the last few years?” Mr. Bloomberg said.

“Over the last how many years?” Ms. Davis asked.

“Seven and a half is the right answer,” Mr. Bloomberg joked.