Rep. Barney Frank played a pivotal role in negotiating the financial-rescue package approved by Congress this month. All did not go smoothly of course; voter anger toward Wall Street led many House members to reject the initial deal, and the stock market plunged disastrously as a result. Still, Congressman Frank, who is running for a 15th term in Massachusetts’s Fourth District, stressed the importance of acting, and helped steer passage of a revised bill. Few are in love with this bill, but he was correct on the urgency of intervening.

It will take some time before the financial crisis, with its complex roots, is well understood. But the collapse of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played a large part. Disappointingly, Mr. Frank encouraged both companies’ forays into riskier lending for several years, and pooh-poohed misgivings until fairly recently. (Mr. Frank was far from the only indulgent member of Congress; the two companies had numerous friends on both sides of the aisle.)

Congressman Frank hoped that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could help expand home ownership to more Americans. Paradoxically though, increased lending by the two companies may have simply helped expand the housing bubble, widening the pain brought on by its collapse. In his defense, Mr. Frank raises the valid point that Republicans controlled Congress from 1995 until January of last year. And to his credit, he worked (though unsuccessfully) with Mike Oxley, the former Republican chairman of the Financial Services Committee, to rein in the companies. Last spring, not long after taking over as chairman, he pushed a reform bill through the House.

His opponent, Republican Earl Sholley, has made several unsuccessful runs for state Senate, and lacks the backing of his own party. A crusader for fathers’ rights, Mr. Sholley has landed in jail twice (once, in connection with spanking his then-14-year-old daughter), and seems temperamentally unsuited to the give-and-take of Capitol Hill.

Despite occasional irascibility, arrogant Barney Frank brings high intelligence, wit and a strong pragmatic streak to his work. He is better equipped than his foe to help move America through the difficult times ahead.