Mayor Bloomberg got a tiny bit defensive this afternoon when pressed on why he has abandoned his plans to stay out of statewide races and endorse not one, but two GOP candidates: Staten Island DA Dan Donovan for AG and former hedge fund manager Harry Wilson for state comptroller.

When asked at today’s City Hall steps press conference where he formally announced his support for Wilson what had spurred him to change his mind from when he said last May that Donovan would likely be the only statewide candidate he’d back, Bloomberg replied:

“Because at that point I hadn’t met Harry Wilson, and I’ve changed my mind. I think this state desperately needs Harry Wilson.”

“I didn’t plan to endorse anybody else. But when the opportunity came along to do it, the first thing I did was say, ‘This guy really does merit my attention and merits my support and I’m going to give it to him.’”

Both Donovan and Wilson meet the mayor’s preferred criteria of Albany outsiders seeking to clean up Albany, although whereas Wilson really is a political neophyte, Donovan is purely a product of the Staten Island GOP.

Also, as the DN’s Adam Lisberg noted, Bloomberg has made a number of state legislative endorsements (all Democrats so far) and went out of his way to support embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel at a time when members of his own party have abandoned him.

(Thanks to NY1′s Michael Scotto for the quotes from today’s Wilson-Bloomberg presser).

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