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Friday’s Presidential was supposed to focus on foreign policy, so we weren’t expecting to hear much discussion of early education issues. But during a section in which moderator Jim Lehrer asked the candidates about how the current financial crisis will impact their proposed policy agendas, Democratic candidate Barack Obama gave a shout-out to early education as the kind of needed investment that produces long-term returns that justify increasing investments even in tight economic times:

LEHRER: Would you go for that [a freeze on domestic spending proposed by McCain]?

OBAMA: The problem with a spending freeze is you’re using a hatchet where you need a scalpel. There are some programs that are very important that are under funded. I want to increase early childhood education and the notion that we should freeze that when there may be, for example, this Medicare subsidy doesn’t make sense.