First the Supreme Court ruling and now this: Putin edged out Gore for Time Magazine's Person of the Year.

The good news is that this particular recognition usually is the harbinger of failure and collapse. But still: Time Magazine picks a KGB boss turned dictator as the person of the year, but passes up a man who has defined vision and aspiration for all humanity?

As if Russia were going to be anywhere close to one of the top five most important countries in the world for the rest of the century. The odds are long on that.

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"But in an interview on Friday, Mrs Clinton appeared to raise it again. “I’ve been tested, I’ve been vetted,” she said on Iowa television. “There are no surprises. There’s not going to be anybody saying, ‘I didn’t think of that. My goodness, what’s that going to mean?’"

How exactly was Mrs. Clinton vetted or tested? She has been attacked and embarrassed in the press to a degree that is grossly unfair and similar only to the treatment typically dished out to Presidents. But that's not the same as a vetting or testing of beliefs and opinions; besides, she would be the first to say that victimhood is not a credential for high office. Nor is she running a martyr's campaign, or appealing for pity as a basis for votes.

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Bill Clinton's Charlie Rose interview was one of those moments that every Presidential candidate dreads: when the spouse expresses too clearly and with far too much asperity the aggression and frustration felt by the top ranks of the campaign. Just three highlights follow -- Bill Clinton said:

'• That picking Obama would be a "risk";

• Likened nominating Obama to picking "a gifted television commentator";

• Called Obama a mere "symbol for change," adding that "symbol is not as important as substance";'

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