Terry Gross

The actor has been nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of a solider disarming explosive devices in the Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker. Renner describes what it was like to spend hours a day in a Kevlar suit — as well as how it felt to portray a serial killer in the movie Dahmer.

Journalist David Weigel recently attended the Tea Party convention and the Conservative Political Action Conference. Weigel, who covers the Republican Party for The Washington Independent, explains how the conservative message is shifting — and how party officials are dealing with the changes.

Using White House visitor logs, writer Paul Blumenthal dug into negotiations that took place among pharmaceutical lobbying firms, the White House and Congress while the health care bill was being drafted. Blumenthal describes how he used public records to determine who was meeting with whom — and how various interest groups have influenced the debate.