"You forget that every single decision, everybody, every story, everything was always couched in terms of race," Bloomberg says in the December issue of Vanity Fair, which hits newsstands tomorrow.

"That's not true anymore," Bloomberg concludes.

In the revealing interview, Bloomberg also stresses that he has a different management style than Giuliani, who is universally credited for his leadership in the city in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

"He made all the decisions . . . particularly when it came to police and fire. Rudy wanted to be the PC [police commissioner]. Rudy wanted to be the fire commissioner. He rushed to the fires," Bloomberg says.

"My attitude is, my job is to pick people and let them do it."

A Giuliani spokeswoman declined comment, saying the ex-mayor hadn't seen the article.

Bloomberg's press secretary, Ed Skyler, defended the mayor's comments.

"No one should infer any criticism of Mayor Giuliani in either of those statements," he said.

Bloomberg also compares the number of deaths caused by secondhand smoke to the number of people killed in the World Trade Center collapse.

Doubling his previous estimates, the mayor says that 2,000 New Yorkers die each year from secondhand smoke.

"Think about all the press attention to 9/11," he says. "That number of people die every year in the city from secondhand smoke.

"Or think about all the press focus on anthrax," he continues. "Six months. Headline stories. Every radio station. Every television station. Every periodical. Every newspaper. Anthrax, anthrax, anthrax.

"There were seven deaths."

Bloomberg also suggests he wouldn't be devastated if he loses his re-election bid in 2005. "If the public decides they don't want me, OK, I'm gonna have another career," the billionaire former businessman says. "For most people, when they leave office, that's the end. That's not true in my case. My Plan B is better than the other guy's Plan A."

Bloomberg admits that being mayor isn't the "highlight of his career."

"You look at people, this is the highlight of their career - in terms of power, access, visibility," he says. "That wasn't the case with me. I can go to any city in the world," he says.

In the nine-page article, Bloomberg also targets Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, citing him as a politician who spends his entire term running for re-election.