Eight days before Election Day, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the city's leading Democrat, endorsed William Thompson for mayor Monday.

Quinn, a longtime backer of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has been criticized by some for delaying an endorsement for her fellow Democrat. She said she called Thompson and told him he had her support.

“I believe Bill Thompson’s been a good comptroller, I think he would be a good mayor and I think it’s very important that the Democrats are united," said Quinn.

Bloomberg also picked up a major endorsement Monday from Crain's New York Business, which said that Thompson, the city comptroller, has not offered any compelling alternative vision for the city.

The endorsements came the same day that a new poll shows Bloomberg could be headed for a blowout.

The Quinnipiac University poll released Monday shows Bloomberg holding an 18 percentage point lead over his challenger.

Of those surveyed, 53 percent said they would vote for the mayor compared to 35 for Thompson; 10 percent remain undecided.

The poll shows the mayor ahead among voters in all five boroughs, among men and women, and with a clear majority among Republicans and Independents.

Bloomberg and Thompson are split at 46 percent among Democrats.

The poll surveyed more than 1,000 likely voters over the weekend, and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

Thompson's campaign dismissed the numbers, pointing out that Bloomberg’s margin of victory four years ago was far narrower than polls predicted.

“We continue to see in the public polls, I would almost say, you know, fuzzy math over the years," said Thompson. "Wild swings and things that aren’t accurate.”

So far, the mayoral campaign has failed the capture the public’s imagination the way the Yankees postseason run has, but the attention on baseball could work to his advantage, with the World Series providing a captive local audience for his plentiful TV ads.

The mayor delivered a speech in New York University on Monday in which he laid out his vision for New York City in 2013, at the end of what he hopes will be his third term in office.

Bloomberg predicted crime will drop even lower and city schools will outperform even suburban ones.

"Not only will more middle class families be staying in the city and sending their kids to school here, I believe we will start to see an entirely new phenomenon. Families from around the nation and the region will be moving into the city for the schools," said the mayor.

Meanwhile, despite getting slapped with fines from the Department of Sanitation last week, the Thompson campaign is still plastering posters around the city.

The DOS billed the Democratic candidate more than $125,000 for nearly 1,700 signs illegally posted across the city, and now the department is tearing down signs that have been put up along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

The Thompson camp says City Hall is influencing ticket writers, but the sanitation officials say agency workers have to tear down unauthorized posters regardless of the subject matter.

Thompson and Bloomberg are scheduled to have a second and final mayoral debate Tuesday night.