Mayor James's endorsement came after Mr. Jackson spoke to several thousand people at a lunchtime rally on the steps of City Hall.

Barely 150 people turned up at the lunchtime rally on a warm, sparkling afternoon in September, traditionally a recipe for political success.

Mr. Gore declared at a lunchtime rally in front of the copper-domed courthouse in Green Bay.

The day before Election Day, he will wrap up his campaign with a lunchtime rally in Dallas.

"We wouldn't do anything differant," he said at the lunchtime rally.

"Those are the pro-Goetz people over there - we're anti-Goetz," a man explained to passers-by as he distributed fliers for a lunchtime rally in lower Manhattan last week.

Classes were not in session, but in an annual staff day 40 students and 200 teachers held a lunchtime rally for Ms. Rivers across the street from the school.

The vendors' association said that on Wednesday, 1,000 vendors, suppliers and their families will march from City Hall to Wall Street and back for a lunchtime rally.

Police leave has been cancelled in London, where union leaders and thousands of activists will take part in a march, followed by a lunchtime rally in Westminster.

Senator Clinton led a packed lunchtime rally at the American Legion Hall here for Mr. Johnson.