Letters.

--There is an interesting coincidence in two of the items in your Sept. 29 issue. In "For the Record" you note that Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and former congressman Asa Hutchinson -- both Republicans -- are declining to run against Democrat Blanche Lincoln for her seat in the Senate. Meanwhile, in Nevada, Congressman Jim Gibbons has opted not to run against Sen. Harry Reid. This important and disillusioning news is followed four pages later in "The Week" by your editorial paragraph proclaiming the GOP's need to take more seats in the Senate, so as to defeat the Democratic filibusters of top-rank judicial candidates like Miguel Estrada.

If our Republicans don't have the guts to run for office in races we should win, how do you expect the GOP to add to its majority in the Senate? "Victory is very, very, very important," you say. Yes, but first the GOP must deserve victory.

James Phillips

Folsom, Calif.

--Being stationed in Iraq has a few drawbacks, one of which is untimely delivery of National Review. I read, with some amusement, the bit about the British group's claim that fluoridated water violates Islam ("The Week," Sept. 29). As I write, I am looking at a bottle of water, packaged in Bahrain, prominently advertising "With Fluoride." Apparently, the Islamic Medical Association's press release on the issue has not made its way to the offices of the Bahrain Water Bottling & Beverages Co. And take this piece of advice from an experienced soldier over ...