In the wake of a New York Times report about the obscene amount of money Mayor Michael Bloomberg will spend on running for a third term (an estimated $117 million), now comes a Times piece saying Bloomberg’s strong-arming of the City Council to repeal the Big Town’s term limits law (approved twice by voters) might wind up biting him in the, you’ll excuse the expression, political ass.

From Sunday’s Times:

With five weeks remaining until Election Day, little seems uncertain in the contest between the colossally advantaged incumbent, Mr. Bloomberg, and his lesser-known rival,William C. Thompson Jr.

But interviews with both campaigns and dozens of voters reveal that anger over a single issue still simmers, seemingly immune to a flood of television commercials and glossy brochures. That bedevils Bloomberg advisers and gives hope to his underfunded challenger.

That single issue is the term-limits termination, as one Bloombergnik told the Times:

“The Bloomberg campaign can’t convince voters to not be upset about this. It won’t work,” said John H. Mollenkopf, a professor of political science at City University who has informally advised the Bloomberg campaign.

“If you ask New Yorkers what they did not like over the last eight years,” he added, “[the repeal of] term limits is the major negative.”

Actually, the major negative is starting to look like Michael Bloomberg, the Best Mayor Money Can Buy.

And the major question is: Can money buy New York voters for a third time?