It’s less than two months before one of the most momentous elections in American history. Who will succeed Bush? More importantly, what ideas will succeed Bush?

As you already know, this question sits at the heart of every Democracy issue, including the one you have just received. What is the right path to take on expanding higher education access? Theda Skocpol and Suzanne Mettler, two of our nation’s most respected political scientists, explain in these pages. What sort of leadership qualities should our next president have? Few people have considered the question of leadership more deeply than Joseph Nye, Jr., and in this issue he gives his view on the ideal future president. What do Iranian politics look like from the inside, and what do they mean for U.S. foreign policy? Why is civic education important, and why do we need more of it? What kind of infrastructure investments should we be making to ensure growth through the twenty-first century? All of these questions are asked, and answered, in this issue.