By WILL JONES TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Two weeks before Election Day, Paul Goldman tried to tip the balance in Richmond's mayoral race by dropping his candidacy and throwing his support to Del. Dwight Clinton Jones.

The move, formalized yesterday in a news conference outside City Hall, was dismissed immediately by Jones' rivals as an expected move by a long-shot candidate.

"We need a change. Dwight's the guy who can make a change and can win," Goldman said before presenting Jones a symbolic broom to help him clean up city government.

Goldman, a former policy adviser to Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and a former chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said he is seeking no position in a Jones administration, but he and Jones did not rule out that possibility.

"Mr. Goldman is absolutely somebody that knows a lot about Richmond, but this is no deal," Jones said. "Paul has made a decision. He informed me of his decision, and I accept it. No promises have been made."

Other candidates called Goldman's decision no surprise. Lawrence E. Williams Sr. said he's expected a Goldman withdrawal for two months.

"There had been talk that this might have happened in August," said William J. Pantele, the City Council president. "I think people of the city of Richmond are looking forward to stable, straight-up government, taking the citizens' interests first and not the kinds of maneuvering that some would tend to follow."

Attorney Robert J. Grey Jr. said Goldman "decided to withdraw from the race . . . because he didn't see the numbers for himself being there to begin with."

Goldman, who has been shown running fourth in the five-candidate race in poll results released by the Jones and Pantele campaigns, will remain on the ballot.

He said he won't participate in the remaining campaign forums and has not decided what to do with $99,000 that he's raised for his campaign, including $50,000 from a New Jersey lawyer and friend.

Goldman said he decided to back Jones after deciding that Pantele and Grey would not bring the change that's needed to city government.

At a forum last week, the candidates were asked about the accounting of city tax dollars in the Richmond CenterStage arts center project. Pantele and Grey defended the private backers of the project, saying they did not deserve the rough treatment they received by those who scrutinized the project. Goldman led that effort while working in the Wilder administration.

"It's not any personal attack to ask for people to account for public money," Goldman said yesterday. "It's what Dwight and I understand. That's the basic responsibility of the government, and so it hit me. There's only two guys here for change."

At campaign forums, Goldman frequently took the lead in attacking Pantele and Grey while largely sparing Jones. However, Goldman led an effort that resulted in the overturning of last month's vote by the Richmond City Democratic Committee to endorse Jones.

Goldman and Jones stressed yesterday that Goldman's objection was not a personal one against Jones but one over how the vote was handled procedurally. The Democratic committee is set to hold another endorsement vote tomorrow.

"It's not the odd fellows getting together," Jones said, "because Paul and I have stood for the same things in most instances in this campaign," including cost-of-living raises for city retirees, transparency on the arts center project, and ending dysfunction in city government.

"Today, I think we take a major turn in the mayoral election."