Editorial:Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives need first a familiarity with the people in their individual districts.

Editorial:Barack Obama, in the second debate, showed a better grasp of the nation's economic troubles and how to deal with them.

Editorial:Less than a year after successfully finishing a $2.38 billion fundraising campaign, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is planning a $4 billion effort to further raise its endowment.

OUR VIEWS:Cherry Hospital administrators and staff have traveled a lot thanks to drug companies. That needs to change.

Editorial:Fact: Revenues from gasoline taxes are failing to keep pace with the need for money to finance transportation projects.

Editorial:As candidates are feuding over the economic crisis, it's more than a debate to tens of thousands of people.

Letter:Wake County revalued property at the peak of the real estate bubble. There was much said about values increasing as much as 40 percent or 50 percent, particularly in areas around North Hills where teardowns became commonplace.

Letter:Regarding the Oct. 3 People's Forum letter captioned "Outdated labor laws": The Employee Free Choice Act, more appropriately described as the "card check bill," would take away employees' individual rights to a federally supervised private ballot when deciding whether to join a union.

Letter:I really, really, do not like the new weekend section that comes with the Friday N&O. I liked the What's Up magazine-style section.

Letter:Your Oct. 8 article "Dole, Perdue content to avoid debates" was misleading and unfair to Bev Perdue. She has committed to five televised debates in this campaign, with the next one is schedule for next week in Charlotte.

Letter:Regarding your Oct. 8 article "Dole, Perdue content to avoid debates": I think the reason Beverly Perdue declined the two debates with Pat McCrory and Mike Munger is because those two debates were broadcast on North Carolina public television, which is broadcast statewide.

Letter:When the Rev. Walter Leake at a GOP rally in Greenville prayed that God would silence the speech of Democrats who lie about McCain/Palin (news item, Oct. 9), he should have checked his facts first.

Charles Krauthammer: Convicted felon Tony Rezko. Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. And the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It is hard to think of any presidential candidate before Barack Obama sporting associations with three more execrable characters.

Point of View:As the national financial crisis turns into a political football, let us inject some facts about subprime mortgages and efforts to expand homeownership.

George Will:Time was, the Baltimore Orioles manager was Earl Weaver, a short, irascible, Napoleonic figure who, when cranky, as he frequently was, would shout at an umpire, "Are you going to get any better or is this it?"

David Broder:Something strange is happening in this strangest of all presidential contests. The longer it goes on, the less we know about what either of these men would really do if he were in the Oval Office next year.

POINT OF VIEW:With John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate there's been a great deal of discussion about the political "glass ceiling."

In a recent gubernatorial debate between current Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, a challenging question facing North Carolina voters was highlighted.