11.   Most of the callers were told that there is little the mayor can do these days.

12.   Ms. Wooten has been a strong defender of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in a district where the mayor did poorly at the polls four years ago.

13.   Not even the great mayor does.

14.   No mayor did as well as Theodore Roosevelt, though.

15.   So does the mayor.

16.   That, he said, is because the mayor has done little to break the wagons-in-a-circle mentality of most officers.

17.   The mayor can do that and more, but Shon-du will still manage to beat the system because he knows it inside out.

18.   The mayor does too, and in recent days he has refused to negotiate with the City Council over the next budget unless Vallone gave up on the referendum.

19.   The mayor may do better to ask whether there is a spin doctor in the house ready for emergency retainer than to tag along in the merciless laughter.

20.   The mayor does.