Editorial
McBride's breakthrough
The final vote still isn't official, but the controversy shouldn't overshadow Bill McBride's remarkable surge in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Editorial
A court's troubling secrecy
It is troubling that the first-ever hearing of a special federal appellate court, whose function is to review decisions on the extent of the government's wiretap authority, was conducted in secret and without input from any source outside the Justice Department.

Letters
Victims' names were a moving tribute
On reading the special Sept. 11 section in the St. Petersburg Times, I found myself engrossed in the list of the victims' names offered there. The enormity of this event grew as I looked more closely over individual names, so alike on that page, crowded, almost touching and hugging each other, held together in the rather permanent "bond" of your paper by that fateful day.

Paul C. Tash
Why the St. Pete Times Forum?
The St. Petersburg Times recently took an unprecedented step for a North American newspaper by buying the naming rights to a major sports and entertainment center. The building that had been known as the Ice Palace, the home to the Tampa Bay Lightning pro hockey team, and a very successful concert venue, is now "The St. Pete Times Forum."

Margo Hammond
Look who's coming to the Times Festival of Reading
The Times Festival of Reading, celebrating its 10th anniversary, will be held Sunday, Nov. 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the campus of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. More than 30 authors -- including two Pulitzer-Prize winners, the executive editor of the Washington Post, a prize-winning sports writer and a legendary Washington political columnist -- will be on hand for the annual event. Admission and parking are free.

Martin Dyckman
Another Florida election
Bill McBride's unorthodox campaign demolished all the early assumptions about the Democratic race for governor.

Philip Gailey
Misdirected blame won't explain the Election Day debacle
It's not always easy being a Florida Democrat. Sometimes it requires you to shut down your critical faculties and disconnect yourself from reality in order to buy into the party line.

Bill Maxwell
They're laughing at us in Texas
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- That sound behind me is not that of a mugger about to relieve me of my hard-earned cash or a wayward longhorn fixing to pin me to a mesquite tree.

Robyn E. Blumner
Bush's religious prescription
They say no one has the zeal of a convert, and our president is living proof. The former ne'er-do-well frat boy beat back his problem with alcohol by finding religion. Now Bush wants to put the nation on a prayer diet. For whatever ails you, Bush believes a spoonful of salvation is the answer. And while a prescription drug plan for seniors will have to wait, Bush is determined to get government to underwrite his religious prescription -- whether or not he has congressional approval.