Opinion - The Christian Science Monitor

A candidate's idealism can evoke feelings beyond resultsIn response to the Oct. 3 Opinion piece, "Dare I believe Obama can win?": I so rarely am moved by columns these days. So many people have an opinion on just about everything that even the Internet seems overcrowded with comments on minutia that hardly affect anyone.

Washington - To drill or not to drill is the wrong question.

Washington; and Mahmoudiya, Iraq - Mahmoudiya, a town south of Baghdad, was part of the area long known as the "Triangle of Death" because of the extraordinary number of Sunni insurgent attacks against coalition forces and Iraqi civilians it suffered – often half a dozen daily in 2006. Today, with violence down to only a few ineffective attacks in any given week, it has earned the moniker "Triangle of Love."

Paris and Boston - There is too much at stake for the United States to allow millions worldwide to continue living in extreme poverty.

Brooklyn, N.Y. - Like so many Americans, I feel as though I am holding my breath.

Again this election cycle, citizens will decide whether to introduce or expand casino-style gambling in their states. Casino resorts in Maine and Ohio? Slot machines – 15,000 of them – in Maryland? Round-the-clock gambling in Colorado? Backers promise a painless revenue stream for states. It's anything but.

Bronxville, N.Y. - We don't normally think of college students and scavenger hunts together. Like capture the flag, scavenger hunts seem more suited for preteens. But in recent years scavenger hunts have become part of fall orientation for schools such as Amherst and Oberlin.

Provo, Utah - In 2010, South Africa will use the World Cup soccer games to "come out" and showcase itself, as did China recently with the Olympic Games.

Buried under the avalanche of coverage of Wall Street woes is a sobering news item: The world is pumping out climate-changing greenhouse gases even faster than predicted. But while Washington waits, enterprising US states are taking action.

Anchorage, Alaska - When he faces off against Sarah Palin Thursday night, Joe Biden will have his hands full.

Gig Harbor, Wash. - "Elitist." What more powerful epithet can one politician fling at another?

The House lawmakers who sank the financial rescue package Monday said their phones and e-mails burned with protests that Main Street has to bail out Wall Street. But it's not helpful, or even accurate, to view this crisis as scrappy alley cats vs. fat cats. In truth, the whole neighborhood is at stake. We cats are all in this together.

New York - The much-maligned bailout appears set to become law. Members of Congress suggest they'll hold their noses but vote for it anyway. Their reasoning? Something must be done.

State College, Pa. - Have you seen "Charlie bit my finger – again!"? Well, about 53 million people have, and it hasn't been on a big screen anywhere.

Attention college-bound students: The SAT is overrated. A new study – led by a Harvard official, so it's got Ivy cred – says colleges inflate the importance of the dreaded test and should consider making it optional. Oh, joy! Or...?

Baltimore - What is the American dream today? It's a fair question in these times of financial and economic disorder and a less than harmonious political scene. The general election has stimulated references to it throughout the country. I want to know what all this dreaming is about.

Washington - Faced with the daunting prospect of fighting the Japanese among the jungles, swamps, and volcanic rocks of the islands of the south Pacific, Gen. Douglas MacArthur's tactic of "island-hopping" isolated his enemies and rendered them strategically irrelevant. His unorthodox principle: Hit 'em where they aren't.

Kudos to debate moderator Jim Lehrer for questioning the presidential candidates – four times – about how the proposed $700 billion financial bailout will affect their choices and priorities. And modest applause to the candidates for their response. But voters need to hear much more from them on this subject.

Buffalo, N.Y. - I want this new school year to be a good one for my students as they learn about everything from calculus to Shakespeare to failure.

Gettysburg, Pa. - The troubled economy, soaring healthcare costs, the Iraq war – these may be the issues we're hearing the most about in this election year.

For Congress, spending billions to buy up Wall Street's dodgy mortgages may be the easy part. The next act requires lawmakers to respond to public anger and prevent America's economy from falling into another giant credit hole. Where to start? With Congress itself.

Cambridge, Mass. - Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but that didn't stop Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan from getting a chilly reception in Congress this week. Senators from both parties assailed the $700 billion bid to restore confidence in financial markets, declaring it unacceptable. "We have to look at some alternatives," Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama said.

Washington - John McCain and Barack Obama are highlighting different approaches to solving our nation's most pressing problems.

Barack Obama and John McCain square off Friday night in their first debate as nominees. The topic will be global affairs. With so many demands on American resources at home, voters may wonder if foreign policy really matters. It does, for both peace and prosperity. Here are 15 questions that the Monitor hopes will be asked:

Boston - We Israelis like to think of ourselves as "the only democracy in the Middle East." The label has a variety of uses: We invoke it to explain our special relationship with the United States, to set ourselves apart from our authoritarian Arab neighbors, to account for our remarkable economic success, and to justify occasional requests for EU membership.

Detroit - When General Motors celebrated its 100th anniversary this month, it was a time to recall not only our achievements but also the challenges we overcame in our first century. We endured economic upheavals such as the Great Depression and produced vehicles to defend America in war and drive our economy in peace.

If your neighbors couldn't afford their mortgage, would you help them? You likely will, with tax dollars, in the expected federal takeover of troubled home loans. Once the US Treasury buys up such loans from Wall Street, millions of distressed homeowners on Main Street may be offered a break – a bigger one than they might otherwise get from private lenders.

Cambridge, Mass. - The financial calamity that has befallen the United States quite obviously reflects Wall Street failures in leadership and risk management. But we couldn't have arrived at this crisis point without a fundamental failure of government. That failure must be owned up to and rectified in the weeks ahead, or even the planned $700 billion bailout will end up being just a band-aid.