Terry Gross

In his last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Jackson was as much diplomat as basketball coach. He resigned at the end of the season. His new book is The Last Season.

Last week The New Yorker endorsed John Kerry for president. Hertzberg frequently contributes to the magazine's Talk of the Town section. He is also the author of Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966-2004. Hertzberg was on the staff of The New Republic magazine for much of the 1980s. He also spent time in the White House from 1979 to 1981 as Jimmy Carter's speechwriter.

From January 2001 to February 2002 he was a special assistant to President Bush for economic speech-writing. He held the position during the Sept. 11 attacks and he is the man responsible for the oft-repeated Bush term "axis of evil." Frum is the author of the book, The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush.

Reid is Rocky Mountain bureau chief for The Washington Post. Previously he was the Post's London bureau chief, and their Tokyo bureau chief. He is also an NPR commentator. His new book is The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy.

His biography of Bing Crosby is "Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams—the Early Years, 1903-1940." It's now out in paperback. From 1930s to the 50s, Crosby was a pop culture icon, dominating American entertainment with his hit records and movies. In this first volume of the biography, Giddins chronicles the rise of Crosby's career. Giddins may be best known as a jazz columnist for the Village Voice. He won the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award for his book "Visions of Jazz." He was one of the experts featured in Ken Burn's Jazz series on PBS

We remember Jam Master Jay.

Carlin's seven dirty words routine was the center of a famous obscenity case in the 1970s. He has a new book When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? His other books include Napalm & Silly Putty, and Brain Droppings.

Rushing was a press officer stationed at Centcom (United States Central command) presenting the American military point of view on the war to the world press. He was featured in the documentary Control Room which was filmed inside the Arab network Al Jazeera. Rushing decided to leave the military after the Pentagon ordered him to stop commenting on the documentary.

Koppel talks about politics, the media and covering the 2004 presidential election. Koppel is the author of the book Nightline: History in the Making and the Making of Television.

Dan Seligson is an editor at the Election Reform Information Project (electionline.org), a nonpartisan organization. He'll discuss their recent report, "Election Preview 2004: What's Changed, What Hasn't and Why."