I Like Mike. So Will You.

Once in office, Bloomberg revealed a style that was totally different than mine and Giuliani's. Rudy and I are often described as outspoken, bigger than life. Now I can't speak for Rudy, but I am by nature a retiring personality, even shy. But you've got to step up. When I took office in 1978, the city had a crushing $6 billion short-term debt. "If you follow me, I will lead you across the desert," I would brazenly tell the people of New York. I did ultimately bring fiscal stability, restoring the city's bonds to an investment-grade rating and, most important, helping the people of our five boroughs to once again feel proud to be New Yorkers.

Bloomberg arrived at City Hall in a fiscal situation somewhat similar to mine, along with simmering resentments left by Giuliani and the awful damage of 9/11, but he handled it all very differently. He did not cheerlead or exhibit an oversize personality. He was very restrained -- almost too restrained. Most people knew he was a rich businessman, but he seemed to be a regular guy. (A regular guy, that is, who happened to have a huge townhouse on East 79th Street, a blockbuster business, a radio and television station, houses around the country and the world, and his own plane to fly him wherever he wanted to go. Plus, he's a licensed helicopter pilot.)

With his low-key personality, Bloomberg was able to do something that every mayor before wanted to do but was unable. He lowered -- one could even say eliminated -- racial tensions in New York. Most mayors have had to grapple with occasional racial and ethnic incidents, generally involving the cops and a black or Hispanic New Yorker, which lead to charges of police brutality and racial discrimination and rounds of recriminations and invective hurled at the mayor. Not so for Bloomberg.

Why has he thus far escaped the racial confrontations that plagued his predecessors? I believe we can trace it back to his earliest days in office, when one morning, while walking up the steps of City Hall, he saw the Rev. Al Sharpton walking down the steps. Mayor Mike walked over to him, extended his hand and introduced himself.

No big deal? Maybe. But remember, Giuliani was incapable of such gestures. Bloomberg, with his lack of theatricality and his genuine interest in finding the root of a problem and solving it, has brought a racial peace that any city in the country would envy. Under Giuliani, when the two highest-ranking elected black officials in New York, State Comptroller H. Carl McCall and Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, asked to meet with the mayor, he refused. A year went by, and still nothing. "Rudy, why won't you meet with them?" I asked. "Because I don't agree with them," he told me. "You only meet with people you agree with?" I replied. "That's crazy." And it is.

Giuliani might be a very familiar type of president. Bloomberg would be something quite different. He would bring to the White House that same businesslike, problem-solving approach, that same low-key personality, that same comfortable-in-his-skin tranquility -- all leavened by a nicely dry sense of humor.

One question remains: Would he actually live in the White House? In New York, Bloomberg chose not to live in the mayor's house, Gracie Mansion, a beautiful, historic home on the East River. To this day, he remains in his own $17 million home, which puts most mansions to shame. I find it strange that he did not then follow the example of Mayor Jimmy Walker during the Jazz Age and have the lamps that traditionally identify a mayor's house installed on the street in front of his building. Walker's lamps are still there today at 6 St. Luke's Place. But there are no mayoral lamps for Mayor (er, candidate?) Mike.

eikoch@bryancave.com

Ed Koch, a Democrat, was mayor

of New York from 1978 to 1989.

He is a partner in Bryan Cave LLP.