''We want to see a new day for Nassau County,'' said Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli of Great Neck, as he prepared for the primary challenge to his candidacy for Nassau County Executive. In an interview just before the Sept. 11 primary, Mr. DiNapoli spoke confidently of his ''leadership skills,'' unifying and strengthening the Nassau Democrats when serving as their chairman, and his ability to ''work across party and jurisdictional lines,'' working with Governor Pataki and the Republicans to establish an oversight board and bring $105 million in aid to the beleaguered Nassau County.

Raising considerable resources ''to get the message out,'' Mr. DiNapoli has also been most successful in garnering a ''strong base within the party ... leading Democrats,'' with significant endorsements. Most recently, NYS Comptroller Carl McCall and US Rep. Carolyn McCarthy joined US Senator Charles Schumer, US Rep. Gary Ackerman, NYS Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and NYS Assemblyman Sheldon Silver in support of Mr. DiNapoli.

Mr. DiNapoli is firm that ''there must be a fundamental change in the way Nassau does business.'' To that end, he developed his ''Plan for a Better Nassau ... Paving the Road to Fiscal Stability.'' He contends that ''Nassau's fiscal and managerial problems are fundamental in nature, enormous in scope, and daunting to solve.'' And although he foresees no ''quick fixes,'' he does include in his plan a ''First 100-Day Strategy'' that calls for 15 percent cuts ($24.2 million) in contractual costs, a 5 percent increase ($2.1 million) in rents and recoveries, and the elimination of $8.7 million of the county's currently unfilled jobs.

The Nassau Plan also calls for a reform of the county charter. Charter amendments include: an annually-updated strategic plan, a debt reduction plan, departmental business plans, submission of quarterly financial reports, and the publication of annual year-end reports.

The plan further calls for reform of the assessment review commission (which could ''drastically reduce'' by up to $132 million a year, ''the county's senseless borrowing for unnecessarily delayed property tax refunds"), and reform of the county debt and finances. For debt and finances reform, the plan proposes a series of reform measures, ''the most prominent of which is a 15-year, $700 million debt reduction plan ... that will lower the county's outstanding debt by 25 percent while leveling future debt service payments.''

The reform of county management features prominently in the plan too. ''Cutting edge management strategies,'' according to Mr. DiNapoli, are highlighted in this part of the plan. Proposals include hiring a chief operating officer and developing a strategic plan. Reform of labor relations ''urges a renewal and revitalization of the relationship between the county executive, the unions, and the county workers.'' Along these lines he calls for hiring to be ''prioritized,'' and he calls for the county to have some work done ''in house,'' avoiding bonding out for capital projects.

Mr. DiNapoli believes that the plan's six reform areas ''directly address the county's fundamental problems, '' and if fully implemented ''will achieve immediate savings in the first 100 days ... restructure the county's management practices ... reconfigure a flawed assessment review process saving up to $132 million ... introduce a 15-year $700 million debt reduction plan ... return the county's approach to management ... and involve county workers directly in returning Nassau to its rightful place ."

As the campaign moves along, Mr. DiNapoli says that ''More and more I am committed to this, energized ... the people are so ready for a change, ready for someone to take on more responsibility, be creative again.'' He does admit Nassau's problems will take a long time to straighten out --- ''at least a term ... to fix something so broken.''

Discussing his ''prior track record of getting things done,'' Mr. DiNapoli emphasized that he is recognized as a ''consensus builder'' and that he can achieve cooperation, both across party lines and at state and federal levels. Always a champion for the environment, for health issues, for transportation, for affordable housing, for water protection (''the county needs a strategy''), he acknowledges that ''Nassau is not alone,'' and must work with other governing bodies. ''We have to be able to work with the state and the federal government,'' he cautioned, or else the county might have to cut programs or raise taxes. As well, he is eager to work with the towns and the villages, working for a unified plan and an end to duplicate services.

As chair of the local government committee in the state assembly, Mr. DiNapoli has had experience with budget and legislative issues regarding counties in New York State. And, he noted, ''I am a legislator and I have moved a lot of big issues, not just in Nassau County.''

In his own words, Tom DiNapoli states: ''I am running for the position of Nassau County Executive because I have the breadth of experience, the record of delivering on the big issues, a vision for the county and a plan for its reform and recovery.''

The dog days of August are hardly a time to slow down when you're a candidate to be the next Nassau County Executive with a Sept. 11 primary on the horizon. Just ask Tom Suozzi. The Glen Cove mayor is getting his message out by doing interviews with local media, attending various events and meeting with residents as his campaign pushes full force into the home stretch.

In an interview at the end of August in his campaign headquarters, Mr. Suozzi spoke about the position of Nassau County Executive with a boyish enthusiasm and optimism.

He harks back to a time when, as a 31-year-old aspiring public servant, he became mayor of the city he grew up in. At the time, in January 1994, Glen Cove was in financial disarray, with a bond rating just above junk bond status.

Now, just days before he turns 39 years old, Mr. Suozzi received a special birthday gift from Moody's investor service, which improved Glen Cove's bond rating from A3 to A2.

Mr. Suozzi compared the situation Glen Cove was in to Nassau's current predicament. He exudes confidence in his ability to turn around the financial situation in Nassau County as he did in Glen Gove. "This is the exact same stuff I faced as mayor of Glen Cove. It's uncanny, really," he said.

It was about two years ago when Mr. Suozzi decided he would run for Nassau County Executive even though he was in the midst of a successful tenure as the Glen Cove mayor, having turned the city's bond rating from a Baa rating to an A3, a significant improvement. "A little over two years ago I decided that everything I've done in my professional life prepared me for this particular job," he said, referring to the county executive post. "Over the past two years when the [county's] wheels started falling off, and everybody started seeing all these scandals and the financial crisis, then I thought I really would be good for this job."

An attorney, auditor, law clerk, certified public accountant and now mayor, Mr. Suozzi has been running his campaign around one basic principle- "I can do it because I've done it," he said. "You don't want promises. You want proof and then you want to see the plans. I have the proof since I've done it before in Glen Cove and I have the plans."

During his campaign, Mr. Suozzi unveiled various phases of a taxpayers saving plan, which he believes would save residents $100 million dollars through such measures as streamlining the police department, consolidating county real estate holdings, and decreasing the workforce by eliminating positions in the county budget that currently are not filled, while increasing productivity by rewarding exceptional job performance. Mr. Suozzi also plans to disqualify political party committeemen from serving in any county position, and decrease the number of outside contracts the county awards.

Since Mr. Suozzi thinks of Glen Cove as a microcosm of Nassau County, he believes that although the size of Glen Cove's budget may pale in comparison, he can turn Nassau finances around just as he did Glen Cove, using the same management principles -creativity, innovation, hard work, bi-partisanship and technology. He also points out that Glen Cove's is a national model for cleaning up pollution and a statewide model for revitalizing its downtown. "I've never been fettered by all these political connections. I've worked across party lines. I've gotten Republicans and Democrats to help," he said. "My independence has helped me get it done in Glen Cove and it will help me get it done in Nassau County ... I have one loyalty and that's to the people I serve."

Facing the former head of the Nassau Democratic party in Tom DiNapoli could be a daunting task for a fellow Democrat, but Mr. Suozzi hasn't been intimidated nor has he been dissuaded from running for the post. He thinks of himself as an "outsider candidate," considering all of the major endorsements his opponent received.

Mr. Suozzi emphasized, however, that he is the only candidate who has experience balancing budgets and working with unions and a police force and skills necessary for county executive, which he says may prove to be more of an edge than any amount of political endorsements. "I'm the only one who can say I've done it already," he said.

Turning around Glen Cove's financial troubles was not easy. In his first year in office, Mr. Suozzi raised taxes significantly in the city. However, city residents have not seen a tax increase in the last six years and during that time the city has managed to pay down its debt. He is prepared to make tough decisions in Nassau, although he said he didn't think a significant tax increase was needed. "I've identified $100 million in savings just as an outsider looking in. I think we can save even more money than that. I think there's enough waste and patronage to cut," he said.

With the primary less than week away, Mr. Suozzi is hoping for one more birthday present - a primary win and a chance to run for the job for which he believes he is a perfect match.