Tonight promises to be different.
For one thing, Mr. Lehrer is asking the questions and there are few in the business more skilled at the task. The most vulnerable of these neighbors, Ecuador, is literally being overrun with Colombian rebels in its border towns, but Brazil, Venezuela and Panama are also witnessing dramatic increases in incursions across their porous borders by the rebels and their allies. In recent days there has been much discussion about energy, with each of you mapping out sharply contrasting positions concerning drawing down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and opening up part of the Alaska National Wildlife Arctic Reserve to drilling for oil and gas. This election is about hiring somebody capable not only of leading the Nation on education reform, tax relief, saving Social Security, providing prescription drugs to the elderly, etc. It is a moment when we will be entrusting someone with responsibility for safeguarding our vital interests and perhaps even our lives in the face of an increasingly dangerous international environment.