Newsday

Will we know the two parties’ nominees in less than a year, after a February "national primary"? It’s quite possible. But, along the path to such an early nomination decision, new pitfalls will undoubtedly be discovered -- and fallen into.

It looks increasingly likely that a bunch of big states, including California and New York, will move their presidential primary to Feb. 5, 2008. So that day -- call it Super-Super Tuesday -- could prove decisive for all Republican and Democratic hopefuls. Which is to say, from their point of view, there’s not much time left.

Inside the mind of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:

I sure showed them on Tuesday. While poor Dick Cheney was being bombed in Afghanistan, I dropped a bombshell of my own on Capitol Hill: The United States will talk, publicly, with Iran and Syria. I’ll be participating, in Baghdad, probably in April.

Rudy’s up, and Hillary’s down.

Still, it’s possible that New York could enjoy its first "subway series" presidential election -- two New Yorkers leading the national party tickets -- since Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt faced off against Republican Thomas E. Dewey in 1944.

Rudy Giuliani is on the cover of New York magazine this week, featured in a mostly positive profile, but the big GOP nomination news concerns the implosion of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the one Republican who was ahead of Giuliani in the polls.

Why are we good -- even if we have the power not to be? If we have the power to enslave or kill someone, why don’t we? Who, or what, restrains us?

One answer comes from a new movie, Amazing Grace, telling the story of William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the British activist-politician who ended the slave trade. The film, starring Ioan Gruffudd -- that’s John Griffith if you’re not Welsh -- opens tomorrow; it’s undeniably a message movie.

Clint Eastwood is "growing" as a movie director. And we know what that means -- he is going to the politically correct left. And that has led him to some strange conclusions, which are worth addressing.

The onetime archetypal tough guy -- his "Dirty Harry" cop character took wrathful justice into his own hands decades before Jack 24 Bauer -- has been sliding over to liberalism for the past 15 years. And, of course, equally predictably, he has been showered with Academy Awards ever since.

Mitt Romney wants transformation. How do we know? The former Massachusetts Republican governor used the word "transform" or a variant no fewer than 13 times in his presidential announcement Tuesday.

Of course, so far at least, the greatest object of transformation in Romney’s life is -- Romney. And maybe that’s not so bad. Because, while some might wish for a president who is locked into predictable orthodoxy, right or left, America desperately needs a president who can learn and adapt -- and get things done.

Can Oprah get Obama elected president? It’s possible. After all, everything -- and everyone -- else the Queen of Television touches turns to gold.

Oprah Winfrey has given her in-studio blessing to her various courtiers -- Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, Nate Berkus, Bob Greene -- and now all of them have gone on to great success in the larger world. So maybe, too, for Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), a past guest on her show who announced his candidacy for the White House on Saturday.

Many Americans think that homeland security is a joke, and in Boston it’s been proven to be a joke. But in light of increasing threats, perhaps we should take homeland security seriously -- for a change.

Maybe we need a little homeland-security tough love. That is, tough on those who undermine our safety, and love for our fellow citizens, such that we will do everything to keep them alive and well.

Last week Boston discovered that two hired pranksters had planted small electrical devices in public places, part of a promotional stunt for a cartoon show.

As with any historical figure, Ronald Reagan’s reputation has been riding both the up escalator and the down escalator.

But it’s interesting today, on what would have been the 40th president’s 96th birthday, to note that Reagan is being increasingly praised by onetime enemies and increasingly criticized by ostensible friends -- who at least call themselves conservatives.

For most of Reagan’s life and career, the liberal/media establishment contented itself with phrases such as "right-wing cowboy" and "amiable dunce" to describe the Gipper.

OK, we’re going to "surge" in Iraq. But the question is, surge with what? Will we surge with expendable technology or with the precious blood of our men and women?

Unfortunately, President George W. Bush doesn’t have much of a choice, because we have underinvested in the machinery that would boost our prospects for victory.

Today the American battle plan in Iraq and Afghanistan can be summed up in one term: "labor-intensive." We send our best war fighters into harm’s way in underarmored vehicles and with insufficient logistical support.