As the election winds down to its final hour, most of us are keeping our eyes on the clock.

According to Nielsen Media Research, more than three in five American households watched one or both of the vice-presidential and presidential debates.

Another presidential debate was scheduled for the evening this paper went to press. Political spinners have been weaving words in newspaper columns, television sound bites and Web site blogs, predicting that the stakes are especially high for candidate McCain as Obama pulls ahead in the polls.

Before the debacles that occurred on Wall Street, and the fear that ensued in Congress and among voters, McCain and Obama were running a close race.

Since then our country’s financial woes have compelled candidates, as each side vies for control of our country, to get aggressive in their attacks on each other.

And while our presidential and vice presidential candidates have each proven various degrees of intelligence, wit, experience and charisma, the most important attribute at this point would seem to be one that has been lacking among our nation’s leadership lately: competence.

The lingering anger a government funded bailout has invoked among those heroes of political speeches, the massive middle class, is creating a mood in this country that could hardly be called content.

In debates and speeches, our candidates are talking about characters named “Joe Six-pack” and “Sally Soccer Mom,” about working people gathering around a kitchen table to discuss issues such as health care and higher education.

But such characters seem more like one-note stereotypes than a well-considered perception of the average American.

And even the ubiquitous kitchen table is becoming increasingly elusive, as more and more families are losing their jobs and their homes. 

A recent CNN poll indicated that almost six out of 10 people believe that America is on the brink of a depression.

This is a time when we need our leaders to provide strong policies, beneath the initial salve of a popular personality.

The people of this county need clear strategies to pull us out of a total public debt that is now over 10 trillion dollars—a number too large to even fit on the national debt clock located in Times Square.

The Times-Dispatch reported on Oct. 7 that thousands of Virginia residents had rushed to meet the Oct. 6 voting registration deadline.

The issues involved in the 2008 election are too immediate to ignore.

The good news in all of this?

Gas prices are falling—just in time for us to fuel up, and drive to the polls!