Talking about issues

We had a great conversation on our call-in show on KNOM this morning about next Tuesday's election - a lot of eloquent voices supporting their favoured candidates and a lot of important issues raised. The support broke mostly for Knowles, not surprisingly, but there were also some compelling statements in favour of Palin and Halcro.

One issue that was raised by a few callers was the lack of issues-based discussion in the waning days of the campaign. A couple of callers said they were sick of seeing the "No on 2" ads, paid for by the oil companies.

I'd like to see more issues-based conversation, too. It's pathetic that the two leading contenders for governor spend an hour together on air and this is the ADN's lead:

With the campaign for governor hurtling toward Election Day on Tuesday, the three leading candidates traded countless accusations and insults in a pair of Anchorage debates Wednesday.

Then, outside of Alaska, there's John Kerry's "botched joke" about education and ending up in Iraq. Just once in my life, rather than seeing Republicans and Democrats criticize Kerry, I'd like someone to stand up and say, "You know, let's look at the demographics for a moment. Our soldiers generally are less educated, less wealthy, and of disproportionately minority backgrounds. That is matter of fact. No one doubts their bravery or their skill but maybe we could broaden the conversation for a moment."

Of course, that would be rational.