The senatorial debate on Friday, yet again, exemplified the liberal underdog fighting for his ideals against the Republican incumbent. Stu Starky epitomizes the term, "liberal candidate." Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) stands strong approaching his 8th term as the well-respected moderate.

Hell will freeze over before the underdog beats the incumbent, especially the liberal.

Liberals carry this stigma of only having anti-traditional, new, and loftier ideals. Unfortunately, the question of how much risk is involved always coincides with these ideals. [Read article]

In his 2000 campaign President Bush said he would raise Pell Grant awards to $5,100 from the existing $3,300 when he entered into office.

Now, with his term almost over, Pell Grants have only been raised to half the promised increase. They have held at $4,050 for the past three years with no indication that they will be increasing anytime soon.

The Pell Grant failure has provided fodder for Bush's opposition. In their last presidential debate together, Sen. John Kerry attacked Bush for not boosting the Pell Grant. [Read article]

HIV should have been addressed in debates

The moderators of the three presidential debates should be ashamed for not including a question on HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS, in the United States and throughout the world, is a critical issue that must be addressed in the debates as well as the next presidency.

Only Gwen Ifill asked about the disproportionate impact of HIV on black women in the United States during the vice presidential debate. While it is important that both vice presidential candidates mentioned the global AIDS crisis (Mr. Cheney reasserted the president's pledge of $15 billion over 5 years and Mr. Edwards said he and Mr. Kerry would double that to $30 billion), it is outrageous that neither candidate was able to adequately answer the question about domestic HIV/AIDS. The vice president was unaware of the way HIV/AIDS is devastating U.S. communities, even though Mr. Bush campaigned on the issue of AIDS at a black church on June 23. [Read article]