LET'S GO OVER the punch list of candidates for mayor these days before the primary election.

Tom Knox: rich white guy with dead smile who was born a poor black child growing up hungry in the projects, mother cried, brother died, said in the last debate that he'll kick Bob Brady's fat Irish butt. Check.

Bob Brady: Mr. Machine, Democratic party boss, congressman, healer of disputes, union guy, card-carrying carpenter, and Irish butt aside, his head is the size of an over-ripe melon. Check.

Dwight Evans: no slouch in the melon department, his huge bald noggin has its own gravitational pull, passionate, patient, effective legislator, visionary,"most qualified," the Fresh Prince of Belfield, Stenton and Ogontz Aves. Check.

Chaka Fattah: early front runner in need of a jockey with a whip down the stretch, airport salesman, poverty crusader, race baiter, 10-NBC anchormate, congressman who looks entirely too satisfied with his current day job, and what is up with that smug creepy half smile around the eyes? Check.

And finally, Michael Nutter: Olivia's dad, Mayor Street nemisis, smoke-free, voice like Ernie's roommate Bert, living proof that goatees aren't for everyone, principled, stubborn and prepared, nerd turned rock star in final days of the campaign. Check.

Does that about cover it? Sure there are "issues" in this campaign, but it will be the personalities of the candidates, their character, that voters will judge tomorrow. Ultimately it will be an issue of trust. "Do I trust this guy to lead my city?"

Believe me, we've had worse choices. Remember that 1987 "evil of two lessers" post-MOVE confrontation election where voters were forced to chose between reelecting Wilson Goode or reelecting Frank Rizzo. The Bomber versus the Bambino. I still get the heeby-jeebies thinking of it.

Last Thursday morning I spoke to five classes of seventh and eighth graders at Southwark Elementary School in South Philadelphia, where the majority of students are either black or immigrants from Southeast Asia..I asked how many of them heard gunfire more than twice a week in their neighborhoods. The majority raised their hands in each class.

"What can the new mayor do about that?" I asked, and they looked at me like they had never heard such a ridiculous question. Just the afternoon before the school had been locked down for an hour because of a shooting incident on the street outside. Many of these kids parents fled the killing fields of Cambodia to seek the American dream. Mr. Next Mayor, you owe these kids an answer.