I beg to differ with Bob Peterson's analysis of the Democratic Presidential Primaries in Wednesday's "Keeping In Step." He says we don't really know much about the nine guys on the ballot.

How could that be true?

If citizens have been paying any attention at all over the last few months, there have been numerous Democratic debates, hundreds of hours of political commentary, and each candidate even has his own website.

With cable television and the Internet (where you can read any newspaper in the country with the push of a button), there is no excuse for not knowing about the candidates.

As far as I am concerned, this election year has been the best example of democracy in action I can ever remember.

As for Peterson's comment that the Durant Daily Democrat didn't find out about John Edwards' visit until Monday night, whose fault is that? I thought newspapers were supposed to find news stories. Some of my high school students knew about Edwards' visit on Monday morning.

The Tuesday edition of the Democrat ran a story on his visit, but it was hidden away in a small article on page two. If you believe your readers are so uninformed, maybe you should have put the story on page one.

I guess there wasn't room on page one because the lead story was about a suspicious bottle (filled with Palmolive soap) found at the middle school.

There's enough cynicism and apathy in this country as it is. We don't need the same attitude coming from the former editor of our local newspaper.

Michael Grace

Durant