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Long Islanders' questions for the candidates

9:17 PM EDT, October 14, 2008

Newsday asked Long Islanders who work in fields that have sparked issues in the presidential campaign: What do you want to know from the candidates that is not being asked? (Newsday will forward these questions to the campaigns)

Runi Mukherji , chairwoman of the Department of Psychology at SUNY Old Westbury:

We are the lowest of all the developed countries in high school math and science test scores, and yet if we don't have an advanced workforce we are going to keep outsourcing technology and engineering jobs. What are you going to do to change this crisis in K-12 education?

Matthew Crosson , president of the Long Island Association, Long Island's largest business organization:

[The federal law] "No Child Left Behind" requires standardized tests, but it doesn't prepare young people for real careers in the industries where they live. How would you change federal education policy to better connect young Americans to the jobs the country will need to support in the future?

Rachel Hammel , a Hofstra University sophomore majoring in English and women's studies:

How will your positions on immigration and the outsourcing of jobs affect how you approach the economic crisis?

Arthur Gianelli , chief executive of Nassau Health Care Corp.:

How would you ensure that hospitals and other health care providers for Medicaid beneficiaries or the uninsured are adequately funded and given sufficient resources for quality health care?

Sister Margaret Smyth , head of the North Fork Hispanic Apostolate:

The poor are not mentioned much. What will you do to address their needs at a time when the focus is on the middle and upper classes and there are more and more cutbacks occurring on programs that help poor people?

Julius O. Pearse , genealogist and first African-American officer for the Village of Freeport.

If I had a chance to ask both Obama and McCain something, I'd ask particularly about the subject of entitlement. What is their position on putting Social Security in a lockbox, and out of the General Fund area. Why is it not in a lockbox and what is your position on that?

Matilde Parada , Latina community organizer:

What is the commitment you will make toward immigration reform and the millions of undocumented immigrants, a subject not mentioned in the debates?

Dr. Benjamin Luft , program director at Stony Brook University's World Trade Center Monitoring Program:

In times of crisis such as 9/11 and Katrina, we rely on volunteers who rise to the occasion, risking their lives for the greater good of the country. What will you do to ensure that the ailments suffered by these volunteers stemming for their acts of heroism are appropriately remedied?

Shirley Strum Kenny , outgoing president of Stony Brook University:

When Russia launched Sputnik, the U.S. government created the National Defense Education Act to provide funds for Americans to get doctorate degrees and build our preeminence in higher education and research. Now China, India and other countries are creating world-class research universities with breakneck speed to overtake us at our own game, supremacy in higher education. What programs will your administration initiate to maintain our international lead in higher education and research?

Reginald Tuggle , the pastor of Memorial Presbyterian Church in Roosevelt and a vice president at Nassau Community College:

Years ago, to eliminate racism and prejudice in the workplace and housing and to bring about economic parity, Congress and the president enacted initiatives such as affirmative action. As president, what would you do to continue fighting prejudice and social and economic disparity?