This week, ClickBack asked editorial page readers to respond to questions about the running mates Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama should select, and about what the U.S. should make of Iran testing missiles.

Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain will soon pick their running mates. Whom should they choose?

I believe that Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico would be the best choice by Sen. Obama for Vice President of the United States. Mr. Richardson has administrative experience at both the state and national levels, and diplomatic experience as United Nations ambassador. He has campaigned nationally as a candidate for the presidency, and has spoken before large groups throughout the country. His would be a strong contribution to electability of the Democratic ticket.

– JOM-Deer Isle

I think Sen. Barack Obama should choose Sen. Hillary Clinton to be his running mate. She’s been through the vicious Republican smear machine already and the best they could do is accuse her of losing some papers.

Possible Manchurian candidate Sen. John McCain should pick Gov. Charlie Crist to be his running mate. For a Republican, he is a fairly good guy. He hammered the gas stations that were gouging motorists during our unprecedented hurricane season of 2003 when he was Florida’s attorney general.

– takei

Iran tests missiles – will the U.S. do more than test?

I think Sen. Barack Obama is right in proposing to sit down and talk with inimical leaders such as Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It seems to me that our wars to stabilize the Middle East have made it more unstable and now light, sweet crude is $138 a barrel. A little “coffee and …” might be just the thing. All of the threats, sanctions and isolation thrown at North Korea only made them more recalcitrant until the New York Philharmonic played to a standing ovation in Pyongyang last February. Then the North Koreans suddenly decided to dismantle their nuclear program. Maybe Dennis Kucinich was right and we should create a Department of Peace. It’s easier and more cost-efficient for a violinist to play Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in F Minor: Andante” than it is for a soldier to get a traumatic brain injury and have his testicles ruptured by the shock wave of an IED blast.

– takei

Look for more ClickBack questions in Monday’s editorial column, or post your own at the ClickBack section of the BDN’s Web site, bangordailynews.com.