I really thought Bob Seward's A-grade for Mitt Romney and B-grade for Barack Obama was artfully deceiving ["First debate: First impressions," Oct. 14].

Seward speaks of Romney as if he had never accomplished a thing in life and could not have conjugated his verbs without a coach, while the B-graded Obama was some sort of tactical expert and statesman who was too good to get in the fray.

Ask yourself this: Whom do you want to handle your financial portfolio? Who has been more charitable throughout his entire adult life? Whom do you trust to tell you the truth and respond to threats against the United States or its citizens?

Why are the federal government and many Democratically controlled states denying our military men and women the process of voting with an absentee ballot? Why, in poll after poll, are members of the military in support of Mr. Romney?

I submit that Romney has the wisdom to surround himself with competent, smart people. That's called leadership; if he doesn't deliver, he's gone, too!

President Obama has been called out; the man cannot say anything without a teleprompter, and his minions throughout our government have weakened us around the world and are about to bankrupt us here at home. Why? Because he was the chosen one, from community organizer to two-year senator to president. What a marketing ploy!

Just add up the differences in costs associated with your trips to the gas pump since the last inauguration, along with the rise in health care and food costs, before you cast your vote!

William Hanrahan

Stafford