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.