Make way for Obama Imagine waking up on Nov. 5 to discover that our state has voted exactly as the Star Tribune recommended (editorials, Oct. 26). Barack Obama is now our president-elect and Norm Coleman has been returned to the Senate. Minnesota has voted for "the change we need" and Minnesota has also given Senate Republicans the one vote they need to thwart meaningful change.

The Star Tribune's endorsement praises Sen. Coleman for his recent good behavior, ignoring his much longer and much more consistent record of bad behavior. Has he not supported every major mistake of the Bush administration? Given his voting record, his chameleon-like nature and the national mood, how could he not have moved to the center in time for 2008?

Please ask yourself one question before voting: If I want to see Barack Obama take my country in a new direction, why would I vote for a senator who will stand in his way?

FREDERICK KETTERING, NORTHFIELD, MINN.

Send Barkley back to Washington I thought your senatorial endorsement was tepid at a time when we need thoughtful leadership. It is clear you like neither major candidate and I understand that. For Norm Coleman you note his recent positives, recent as in the past year though you chose to ignore the first five years of his term. In Al Franken, you find it hard to envision bipartisanship, not that there is evidence but that you find it hard to envision.

The obvious choice, then, is to endorse Dean Barkley, supporter of reducing the deficit and other important positions. But you underestimate him, just like you underestimated Jesse.

CANDACE H. SOUWEINE, VICTORIA

Better information for school levy voters As the election approaches, the Minneapolis public schools' $60 million excess levy referendum has received increased attention, including assertions on these pages that the average cost of educating a Minneapolis district student last year was $19,000. This figure is arrived at by dividing the district's total budget of $654 million by an enrollment of about 34,750. However, the district's total budget includes items such as community education, food service and debt service, which are not costs of educating students.

A more fitting calculation would use the district's general operating budget, which covers operating, staff, classroom and transportation costs. This figure, $436 million, gives an annual per-student cost of about $12,500 to $12,600. Because some students, such as those receiving special education services, are more expensive to educate, the cost to educate many students is less than this average.

Minneapolis residents considering the levy request should do so based on an appropriate assessment of per-student expenditures.

BRAD A. PETERSON, MINNEAPOLIS

Tinklenberg will make Minnesota proud I have known Elwyn Tinklenberg for over 25 years, as a United Methodist clergy colleague, as a fellow elected official, as Minnesota's commissioner of transportation and most recently as a expert working toward solutions to our transportation and infrastructure challenges.

Elwyn has a fine record of good governance, business development, caring for the vulnerable, and seeking common-sense solutions. A thoughtful man of integrity and faith, El has the temperament to be an outstanding congressman.

A moderate Democrat and a nationally recognized transportation expert, Elwyn will represent the Sixth District and Minnesota in ways that will make all of us proud.

DAVID B. WHEELER, MINNEAPOLIS

More horrors in Minneapolis history Halloween may be here, but Minneapolis residents have a lot more to be scared of than tonight's gaggle of ghosts. In the last couple of weeks, two homes, one Mediterranean classic overlooking Lake Harriet, and another, on historic King's Highway, have been victims of the wrecking ball.

While we've been preoccupied with the fat cats at AIG and their $450,000 vacation, here in Minneapolis, other fat cats are using their muscle to erase history and forever change our city's grand old neighborhoods. Just look at the hideous monster rearing its ugly head on the Western shores of Lake of the Isles. They are writing another chapter of "Lost Twin Cities." Are the cameras rolling?

SARAH STREITZ, MINNEAPOLIS