Well, Renaisauce, I hope you will still encourage a candidate to take part, even if you would have preferred it earlier.

As for me, I like the idea of a small number of participants. Science-policy issues would not have played much role in winnowing the field.

This way, the remaining candidates are all viable, and each will have much more time to address the various topics. We will be spared moments like "Raise your hand if you believe in Evolution."

Each of these candidates is capable of making substantive comments on the issues rather than being limited to a few sound bites. I'm sure science budgets in all areas of government will be one of the topics.

I'd like to hear not only where they stand on the issues but also how they came to their positions. There will be enough time for each of them to demonstrate that.

Fred Bortz -- Science and technology books for young readers (www.fredbortz.com) and Science book reviews (www.scienceshelf.com)