A week and a day until Super Tuesday and New York’s presidential primaries, enough of the campaign has passed to offer, while stopping short of endorsements, some general observations about the major candidates.

THE REPUBLICANS

In the Republican field, there is one candidate with an impressive record as mayor, Rudolph Giuliani; one candidate with an inspiring personal story as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, John McCain; and one candidate with an impressive record in the private sector, Mitt Romney of Bain Capital.

On the two big issues — the war and the economy — Mayor Giuliani has an edge. His economic policy bona fides are marked by his endorsement by Steve Forbes, and his credentials in the war on terror date back well before September 11, 2001, to his ejection of Yasser Arafat from Lincoln Center. Yet Mr. Giuliani, an advocate of immigration while he was mayor, has allowed his campaign to veer off against illegal immigrants that sends, at this juncture, the wrong message. We came to admire him, when he was mayor, for his ability to maintain a politically incorrect position, and it would be a great thing to do this in defense of the contribution undocumented immigrants are making to our country, which ought to fit with his freedom agenda.

Senator McCain will be a hero even if he never wins another election for his example while a captive of the North Vietnamese. His leadership on a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants has been noble. Senator Lieberman’s endorsement means a lot, as does James Woolsey’s, but Mr. McCain’s suggestion that Brent Scowcroft or Secretary of State Baker would be possible Mideast peace envoys suggests that the senator, while cognizant of the dangers of Islamofascism, has one foot in the “realist” camp. On economics, there is a risk that Mr. McCain could emerge as a Gramm-Rudman style deficit hawk rather than a tax-cutting pro-growth leader. His commitment to campaign speech regulation has been a tragedy for this country.

Governor Romney is a successful entrepreneur, and he has been running a well-managed campaign. His refusal to allow the Massachusetts State Police to provide security to a former Iranian president, Mohammed Khatemi, speaking at Harvard was taking a page from Mr. Giuliani’s Lincoln Center playbook, and we are impressed by Mr. Romney’s hawkishness on Iran. But he, too, has stepped into immigrant-bashing as a candidate, and his record of changing positions on abortion and gay rights, regardless of what one’s views are on those issues, raises doubts about what actually are Mr. Romney’s core beliefs.

Governor Huckabee raised taxes in Arkansas, opposes school vouchers, and faults the Bush administration for its “arrogant bunker mentality” on foreign policy. While running a reasonable immigration policy as governor, he has veered into an anti-immigration stance. Ron Paul, without peer in his understanding of the monetary crisis, is, for us, beyond the pale in terms of his foreign policy and his unwillingness to confront the fringe elements who seem to favor his candidacy.

THE DEMOCRATS

Senator Clinton started out the more hawkish candidate on foreign policy, but has backpedaled so that her views on Iraq are now hard to distinguish from Senator Obama’s. She’s running on a platform of raising taxes, and she has criticized Mr. Obama’s health plan for failing to impose sufficient mandates on individuals. She has criticized President Bush for “saber rattling and belligerence toward Iran” and Mr. Obama for being willing to meet with the Iranian president without preconditions.

Senator Obama is sounding an optimistic and, even for many conservatives, an inspiring message of unity at home. He and his wife, Michelle, present as a team all Americans could be proud to represent us on the world stage. But his platform, retreat in Iraq and tax increases on upper-middle-class wage earners, are the opposite of what this country needs. He opposed the confirmations of Justices Roberts and Alito, Attorney General Mukasey, and Ambassador John Bolton.

THE INDEPENDENT

Mayor Bloomberg is a more successful entrepreneur than Mr. Romney, has more of an executive personality than Mr. McCain, and has brought crime in New York down lower than Mr. Giuliani did. He is — by a mile — the best candidate in the race on the immigration issue, an indicator of optimism and open-ness. Yet he opposed the confirmation of Justice Roberts and raised taxes before reducing them. Because he is not a declared candidate, his positions are on national and international issues are less clear than the Republicans and Democrats. But the beginnings of a platform — for free trade, immigration, investment in infrastructure, technology and innovation, and environment — are starting to come into view.

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As a newspaper that covers New York and thrills to its optimistic, welcoming spirit, we have several times said, without making an endorsement, that the ideal race would be among Mayor Giuliani for the Republicans, Senator Clinton for the Democrats, and Mayor Bloomberg as an independent. We call it the New York Central. It’s a lineup that could be improved by the entry of a candidate who would be an unapologetic defender of Mr. Bush’s record, someone such as Vice President Cheney. What a shame it would be if the candidate who emerges at the head of the Republican ticket made the mistake vis a vis Mr. Bush that Vice President Gore made vis a vis the president who had brought him to prominence.