“Campaign Confidential: The Men Who

Would Be Mayor”

Tonight at 8 on WNET/Ch. 13

Confidentially, I don’t think Michael Bloomberg’s going to make it.

Not if he’s really like the guy depicted in “Campaign Confidential: The Men Who Would Be Mayor,” a timely documentary that represents Ch. 13’s contribution to the ongoing coverage of the run-up to tomorrow’s mayoral primaries.

If you were to select a candidate based solely on the way he comes across in “Campaign Confidential,” there’s a good chance you would strike Bloomberg right away.

Of the four Democrats, two Republicans and one gadfly who were trailed by documentarian Jon Alpert for this whimsical hour, Bloomberg comes off as the least likable by far. (Gee, just like in his TV commercials!)

As he mixes with commoners in the city’s neighborhoods, the billionaire media mogul – as he was videotaped and subsequently edited by Alpert – can’t help seeming like a pompous, standoffish rich guy whose idea of small talk is to mention casually to potential voters that he skis in Vail and that a friend of his recently bought the Jets.

Not once does Bloomberg offer an idea for governing other than to issue the ludicrous promise that he’ll work 24 hours a day.

Worse even than Bloomberg is one of his henchman, who is literally caught on tape in an attempt to physically intimidate a reporter whose question to the candidate he didn’t like.

All the other candidates adapted much more easily to the presence of Alpert and his camera and were on their best behavior.

As a result, they each in their own way come across as warm but weary as their campaigns keep them on their feet and on the move from dawn to way past dusk.

In “Campaign Confidential,” Alpert rides with them in their cars, tags along with them in their visits to senior centers and block parties, and – except for Bloomberg and Democrat Alan Hevesi – picks them up at their homes in the morning and accompanies them when they return home in the late evening.

Alpert’s aim was to capture the candidates during off moments – mundane times in their campaigns when the city’s other news media were not around.

Thus, we see Peter Vallone as he stands somewhat shyly outside a subway station greeting neighborhood residents on their way to work, Freddy Ferrer drinking from a bottle of Heineken at a social gathering on a Bronx street,

Hevesi and his son participating in a water balloon toss at a neighborhood event in Brooklyn, Mark Green removing his shoes before entering a mosque to address a group of Muslims, and Herman Badillo handing out leaflets at a shopping center until private security guards move in to eject the candidate and his campaign workers.

While much of “Campaign Confidential” is entertaining, you might want to think twice before relying on the documentary to help you choose a candidate tomorrow since it offers almost no insight into how they stand on the issues.

You will learn, however, that Ferrer’s dog is named Winston Churchill Ferrer, that some elderly ladies from Flushing are fed up with the Chinese (and aren’t shy about letting Vallone know it), and that Badillo and his wife’s favorite song is “Embraceable You.”