If the current student loan interest rate is allowed to expire, interest rates on student loans will double to more than 6 percent. I feel the same way about this issue that I do about the payroll tax. Something needs to be done but maybe not with the 2012 election right around the corner!

Both sides need to be aware of how pinched the middle class feels right now and wary because middle class moderates could define these elections.

If I were going to ask Mitt Romney and Barack Obama three questions, here's what I'd ask. While the 2012 election has cast a sharp line between both sides, my first question would be about bringing the two parties together.

"What characteristics do you have that would appeal to members of the opposition and help eliminate the stalemate in Washington?" 

Americans want progress, not gridlock. I would love to know how each of them could be effective in building bridges around the issues that concern us all. And I would like them to cite examples where they initiated change but had to work with the other party to get it implemented.

At first blush, it seems like there is something untoward about mixing politics and celebrity. Politics should be high minded and serious and not about glamour, right? But when you consider the effect that an Angelina Jolie or a George Clooney can have on an issue like world hunger or genocide, it gives you pause.

And now Barack Obama is playing 2010 election sweepstakes by raffling off the chance to have dinner with him and George Clooney.