Not Republicans or Democrats, just common sense New Yorkers.

Even in the Big Apple, it is not hard to see why the Democrats are having trouble being elected, while Giuliani promises nothing more than to continue in the same way.

Messenger and Sharpton continue to yearn for the good old days. Even they can't expect to be taken seriously by proposing tax increases. Haven't they heard that even residents of New York City have had enough of those failed policies?

What most politicians don't get is that the electorate is neither liberal nor conservative. We may call ourselves a Republican or a Democrat, but what we really are is "common sensible." Labels get us no where. We have learned that too often being a "Conservative Republican" and "Fundamentalist Born Again Christian" are synonymous. Idealogue don't govern very well, but pragmatists do.

Mayor Giuliani may he rude and insensitive. He can be characterized as tactless and condescending. What he is not is ineffective. He knows how to make the city work. He knows that you can't have a city of only the poor and the rich. You need a middle class. He knows that you can't have a middle class in a city unless that city is not ruled by anarchy and lawlessness.

Any of us who have ever managed property know that if you allow graffiti to stay you will have more the next day. The same thing can be said for crime and criminals. Giuliani's approach to law enforcement is fairly similar. Don't allow the small stuff to go unpunished and you bring back a sense of control over the environment for all citizens. This is neither Republican nor Democratic thinking, it is common sense.

What the Mayor is now hopefully learning, because of the unfortunate Abner Louima affair, is that just like you cannot tolerate corruption, you must not tolerate brutality by the police. Too often the police are seen as occupiers instead of protectors. They are not better than the citizens they are there to serve.

Rudy proved that New York City can be a safer place. He proved it, despite what others said, that all our citizens want to live in peace and obey the rules. For over 30 years our mayors said that we could not expect people in the South Bronx to live by the same rules as the people of Bayside. They were wrong. If that is not racist thinking, I don't know what is.

While his opponents are crying that he has made our schools worse, I look at that as so much rhetoric. For years we were told by the Board of Education they could not do a better job educating our children. At the same time, the Board could not tell us how many people were working for them, where they were working and even what they were being paid! This is management?!?

Giuliani said "Chancellor Cortines, if you can't answer these questions, how could you possibly run the largest school district in the United States?" Could the mayor had been more tactful? Of course - but he was right.

Cortines was a great educator, but a lousy administrator. Our schools under Rudy Crew have turned the corner.

For years the education of our children was held hostage by the seemingly intractable corruption of the local school boards. Now, with recently passed legislation and court decisions, the Chancellor has enhanced responsibility over those ill-conceived dens of political patronage. Without the mayor though, we would still be hearing racist remarks like "We are doing the best we can with those children."

The Rudys are also bringing back to the schools art and music. A child can never mature into a truly educated person unless he or she has a grounding in those disciplines. While Congress may think that the arts are not worthy of public funds, I am glad to see that Mayor Giuliani thinks otherwise. If the schools don't introduce our children to dead men like Puccini, Mozart and Gershwin, how can we complain when the only music they know comes from dead men like Shakur and Small?

Mayor Giuliani is neither liberal nor conservative, and contrary to what Ruth and Al would want you to believe, he is not a racist. The mayor is a pragmatist. While he is often thought of as heartless, I know that a lover of the opera has to be a secret romantic. As far as the mayor's personal life is concerned, I hope that all is well, but as long as it doesn't effect his governance, I couldn't care less.

All in all, you can keep the labels, and I hope we keep this mayor.

(Thomas F. Campenni is a real estate consultant advising owners, condominiums and co-ops. He welcomes responses at 21 West 46th Street, NY, NY 10036 or 212-921-8043).