The departure of two of Fernando Ferrer’s top campaign aides could open a new chapter in the Democrat’s sagging campaign for mayor but is more likely the exclamation point marking the end of the former Bronx president’s mayoral hopes.

How much new money in campaign contributions is likely to be “invested” in Mr. Ferrer’s prospects now? How many fence-sitting politicos will be offering up endorsements now? His campaign knows full well how damaging this all is. That’s why the announcement of the departure of his $35,000-a-month message guru, David Axelrod, and his $15,000-a-month press spokesman, Chad Clanton, was held back until after 5 p.m. Friday, just in time to disappear into the obscurity of Saturday news reports.

Mr. Ferrer’s advantage, until he uttered his now-famous flub in front of the Sergeants Benevolent Association forum in mid-March, was his inevitability. He was the only known commodity in a weak field. Mr. Ferrer always looked like a man on the rise. His aides were so confident of easy victory that they were already planning a national effort to raise funds and bring in volunteers from all over the country in a Democratic Party crusade to retake City Hall.

No more.

The flap over his remarks about the Amadou Diallo case has revealed what many who have watched Fernando Ferrer over the years have come to know. He is thin-skinned, and he handles adversity poorly. His fumbling, fidgety responses to the storm of controversy at his remarks have diminished him. What did he mean? What does he stand for? Six weeks later, we still don’t know.

It is said that his now-departed top aide, David Axelrod, believed that Mr. Ferrer’s only way out of the Diallo mess was through an apology. I believe that, ironically, Mr. Ferrer stumbled on the truth but was too weak to exploit it, not quite bold enough to expand his constituency into the vast middle of the electorate who understand the systemic failure that led to Amadou Diallo’s death but also comprehend the huge difference between murder and tragic error.

It was a similar weakness that brought down David Dinkins. Mr. Dinkins, an intelligent man, had to realize that the tragic death of young Gavin Cato in an automobile accident did not justify the actions of the bloodthirsty mob in Crown Heights. The mayor failed, however, to convey that, for fear he would compromise the vast support he enjoyed in the African-American community. But the support Mr. Dinkins enjoyed in the Jewish community, which had provided his margin of victory in 1989, evaporated. If Mr. Dinkins had possessed the courage to exercise leadership at that critical moment, he may well have prevailed in his re-election bid.

Whether the Ferrer fiasco stemmed from the candidate’s intention to move to the center, or a flub similar to President Ford’s assertion when debating Jimmy Carter that Poland was not under Communist domination, we may never know. What we do know is that there has been no clarity in the Ferrer message since March 15. To this day, I have yet to understand any of the Ferrer camp’s explanations of the Diallo remarks.

Even in discussing the reasons for the departures of Messrs. Axelrod and Clanton, Mr. Ferrer couldn’t be forthcoming. When asked by Channel 4’s Gabe Pressman what “strategic differences” led to the shake up, Mr. Ferrer cutely replied: “Differences in strategy.” It is way too late for such a flip answer if Mr. Ferrer wants to get back into the fray.

Mr. Ferrer’s attempt to change the subject by offering a plan to finance increased school subsidies through a stock-transfer tax may have been an even bigger disaster than the Diallo flap. It revealed Mr. Ferrer as unable to master key matters of public policy. Even the New York Times, not usually critical of plans to raise taxes, eviscerated the Ferrer initiative in an editorial yesterday. If they’re not buying, who will?

But there may be a silver lining for some on Team Ferrer. The departure of the out-of-town consultants removes the last bit of restraint on the part of Mr. Ferrer’s good buddy Roberto Ramirez. In the last mayoral election, firms with Ramirez ties sopped up nearly 20% of all Ferrer campaign expenditures. Clearly, there is room for growth. Already, a vice president of Mr. Ramirez’s Mirram Global consulting firm, Jen Bluestein, has been named to succeed Mr. Clanton as communications director.