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Put Country First IN ORDINARY times, with just over three weeks before Election Day, no one would expect the presidential candidates to think of anything but maximizing their political advantage. These are not ordinary times. Mark Warner for Senate VIRGINIANS WILL cast a defining vote in the state's history when they go to the polls in three weeks to select a successor to U.S. Sen. John W. Warner (R). Virginia needs a senator who can sustain Mr. Warner's 30-year tradition of label-defying leadership, in which he put his state and country before his political party. Voters also must choose a candidate who can grasp the nuances of erratic financial markets and who will bring a deft touch to the difficult decisions that will determine the country's fiscal future. By these criteria -- and many others -- the choice between two ex-governors is clear. One candidate, Democrat Mark R. Warner (no relation to John), is a successful entrepreneur who rescued Virginia from insolvency by streamlining government while modestly raising taxes -- and still left office with an approval rating above 70 percent. The other, Republican James S. Gilmore III., is an unapologetic, not very thoughtful partisan whose reckless tax cuts nearly drove Virginia to financial ruin. We endorse Mr. Warner without reservations. Facing Extinction ASERIES OF new reports warns of a grim future for the planet's flora and fauna. Most recently, the alarm was sounded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which last week issued a study with the chilling news that 25 percent of the world's wild mammals face extinction attributable to human activities. A Global Strategy AS STOCK markets around the world continued their sickening crash and credit markets remained frozen, President Bush tried to assure Americans yesterday that leaders of the world's largest economies were coming together to stabilize the global financial system. Meetings this weekend in Washington of finance ministers from the largest economies, the president said, would send "an unmistakable signal: We're in this together, and we'll come through this together." Chaos Sets Out to Sea SOMALIA, a chronically failed state that the world wants to ignore, is back on the international agenda thanks to the quaint-sounding but deadly serious problem of piracy. Forget the Jolly Roger jokes: This year alone, bandits based on the Somali coast have attacked some 60 ships in one of the world's busiest and most important sea lanes and have collected up to $100 million in ransom. More than a dozen vessels and 300 seamen are being held hostage. For years the United States and other Western powers have mostly ignored this scourge, even though an American-led Pay Package in Limbo MONTGOMERY County teachers have been told that they'll probably have to forgo the 5.3 percent pay raise they had been promised for next year because of a worsening economy. Fairfax County, which this year could afford only 2 percent cost-of-living raises for its teachers, has no idea what it will be able to provide with revenue shrinking. Given these grim realities, it's just mind-boggling that the leadership of the Washington Teachers' Union seems willing to thumb its nose at a proposal that would, at minimum, provide its members with a 28 percent pay raise over five years, plus $10,000 in bonuses. The Financial Decelerator A STUDENT of the Great Depression, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has a strong sense of what caused that calamitous crash, and of what central banks and other government institutions did, or failed to do, to keep it from getting worse. Central to Mr. Bernanke's analysis is the concept of a "financial accelerator." Roughly, this is the idea that a breakdown in the financial system, uncorrected by government, exacerbated what might have otherwise been a relatively mild drop in "real" production. Sentences on Trial YOGI BERRA could have written a recently released report on the failure of mandatory minimum sentences. Spying Gone Awry THOMAS E. HUTCHINS, the former Maryland state police superintendent, spoke about a covert operation that spied on harmless activists for the first time at a legislative hearing this week. Mr. Hutchins, who authorized the operation, didn't provide new information about the spying program. But his spirited defense of the surveillance and his refusal to acknowledge serious missteps offers insight into the flawed mind-set that led to the operation's creation. Mr. McCain's Mortgage Offer IT WAS ONLY a couple of weeks ago that Sen. John McCain announced a dramatic decision to suspend his campaign and rush to Washington for a summit on the proposed financial rescue package. Tuesday night, he again demonstrated a flair for the dramatic, using his debate with Sen. Barack Obama to unveil a plan to buy large numbers of troubled mortgages. Mr. McCain's proposal is aimed at a real problem: Housing triggered the broader financial crisis, and new statistics from Moody's Economy.com show that falling prices have left one-sixth of borrowers "under water" -- owing more on their homes than their current market values. But it's less sure that Mr. McCain has identified the right cure. Revenue Roulette EVEN IF THE District of Columbia were flush with money, one would think its elected officials would want to get the best value for taxpayers' dollars. Yet in the face of a looming budget deficit, the D.C. Council is ignoring the advice of fiscal and legal experts that the city is poorly served by the company running its valuable lottery business. The council's troubling refusal to even consider a new contractor who promises to provide a better product for less money is simply incomprehensible. 17 Detainees AFEDERAL APPEALS court intervened yesterday to block one judge's precipitous decision to order the release of 17 Chinese Uighurs held for years at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Issuing the emergency stay was the right thing to do, but not because the Uighurs don't deserve their freedom. Pre-Meltdown Mind-Set "SINCE YOU last met at Ole Miss 12 days ago," Tom Brokaw told the two presidential candidates as they began their second debate last night, "the world has changed a great deal, and not for the better." In grappling with that grim reality, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain proved more adept at casting blame for the current travails than they were at outlining the best way forward. One Small Step WE'RE NOT fond of the any-port-in-a-storm style of lawmaking in Congress. Bills that should pass on their own strengths are cluttered with measures of dubious merit that otherwise couldn't get approved. And sometimes, worthy legislation that can't be reconciled between the two houses is attached to bills that must pass. It is in this latter category of necessary evil that extension of the production tax credit became law on Friday as part of the $700 billion federal rescue plan. Give Fees a Chance EVEN AFFLUENT Montgomery County is feeling the strain of an uncertain economy. With a $4.3 billion budget in fiscal 2009, the county is facing a quarter-billion-dollar shortfall in fiscal 2010, so local leaders are looking for ways to save. They may start by eliminating free ambulance rides. Isiah Leggett (D), the county executive, has proposed an ambulance transport fee that would generate an estimated $14.8 million for fire and rescue services. Critics counter that the fee would deter residents from calling 911. But most neighboring counties have ambulance fees, and there's no evidence that residents are reluctant to request ambulances as a result. The fee would make only a small dent in the deficit, but every dent counts. Dangerous Territory THE TONE is ominous, the shadings dark. "Who is Barack Obama?" asks the latest campaign advertisement from Sen. John McCain. "He says our troops in Afghanistan are 'just air-raiding villages and killing civilians' . . . How dishonorable. . . . How dangerous. . . . Too risky for America." Now, Europe THE DOW JONES Industrial Average dropped below 10,000 yesterday for the first time in four years -- and there will probably be worse news in the days ahead. One day's results on Wall Street do not amount to a final verdict on the Treasury's newly authorized Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). But certainly it will be some time before the $700 billion bailout is up and running. In the meantime, panic is spreading through the global financial system -- and is manifest in a near-breakdown of lending among banks as well as in extremely tight conditions in the market for commercial paper, the short-term debt with which companies finance their operations. The Federal Reserve, its crisis-fighting capacities already stretched, announced yesterday that it would begin paying interest on reserves that banks hold at the Fed, allowing it to pump more cash into the markets without yet cutting interest rates. The Fed also expanded its 28-day and 84-day Term Auction Facility -- or TAF -- to $150 billion each. Still, a sharp and possibly long recession seems inevitable. Help for Neglected Children IT HAS FINALLY dawned on the District that it needs help if its broken system of protections for abused and neglected children is ever to be fixed. The agreement between D.C. officials and child welfare advocates on emergency improvements is welcome. It is but a first step, though, in what promises to be a difficult job that will demand Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's unwavering attention. Time to Settle MAYOR ADRIAN M. Fenty has done much to try to improve the District's care of the mentally and physically disabled: He's hired good people, allocated more resources and changed policies. Yet treatment of this vulnerable population remains distressingly inadequate. Serious deficiencies persist in health care and other vital services. This maddening disconnect -- the gap between effort and results -- is the conundrum facing a federal judge wrestling with how to bring about urgently needed improvements in some fragile lives. Earth Aboil SO MUCH carbon was released around the world from burning fossil fuels in 2007 that it could lead to a sweltering 11-degree Fahrenheit increase in the Earth's temperature by the end of the century, according to data recently unveiled by the Global Carbon Project. To put it more starkly, the relentless buildup of carbon emissions in the atmosphere is outpacing the worst-case scenario outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).