Terry Gross

Through his many New Yorker covers, Barry Blitt has become one of the pre-eminent satirical cartoonists of America's recent presidents. Now Blitt has trained his eye and pen upon our first president in a new children's book, George Washington's Birthday.

New York Times war correspondent Anthony Shadid, a frequent guest on Fresh Air, died Thursday after apparently suffering a fatal asthma attack in Syria, where he was reporting on the political uprising. Fresh Air remembers Shadid with excerpts from his December 2011 appearance on the show.

What's the difference between primaries and caucuses, and why do states have different systems for choosing delegates? Political scientist Josh Putnam explains how delegates are picked, and how the process changed after the 1968 Democratic National Convention.