Residents return to WTC area; mayor candidates resume campaigns

NEW YORK -- Lugging their bags behind them, teary residents of eight newly reopened buildings in lower Manhattan made their way home Saturday, as crews blocks away continued picking through the debris of the World Trade Center.

The homecomings marked yet another step toward normalcy for this city, where mayoral candidates also gently resumed campaigning Saturday.

Elli Fordyce stood at a police checkpoint for the formerly displaced residents of Battery Park City and cried. "Everything is coming out," she said. "It's just this mushroom cloud of emotion."

The number of people missing and feared dead beneath the rubble of the twin towers stood at 6,333. Of the 252 bodies recovered so far, the coroner's office had identified 183.

"You keep picking up pieces and hoping you find a whole body instead of parts," said ironworker Chris Howlett, as he reported for work Saturday morning. "That's what I hope for every day."

The mayoral primary was originally scheduled for Sept. 11, but that was the morning hijackers slammed two jets into the towers. The city was paralyzed and the election postponed; it has been rescheduled for Tuesday.

Outgoing Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has been praised worldwide for his calm, sensitive leadership the past 11 days, and Democratic candidates participating in a forum Saturday added their thanks.

Memorials and fund raisers far outnumbered campaign events Saturday. Bagpipes skirled as funerals were held for at least five more firefighters, just a fraction of the more than 300 listed as dead or missing.