U.S. Presidency

Conservative cartoonist Wayne Stayskal's recents strips have focused on the Democrats, particularly Clinton. His syndicated cartoon appears weekly in the Tampa Tribune.

Part two of our Al Franken interview. He talks about his roles with Saturday Night Live, and his work with the Comedy Channel paroyding the presidential campaign.

TV critic David Bianculli considers the strange trends in this year's election, among which involves all three major candidates making an unprecedented number of television appearances. He thinks this is overall a good thing, and will become the new normal in future elections.

Lyn Nofzinger was an official in the Nixon administration and was Reagan's press secretary and later his aide in the White House, where he was known as a "hatchet-man". He has a new political memoir, called "Nofziger." He Fresh Air to talk about Reagan's recent decision to campaign for President Bush.

Journalist Robert Krulwich is hosting a new "Frontline" documentary on PBS, "The Best Campaign Money Can Buy," about the funds that go into the presidential campaign. In particular, the documentary looks at contributors that give "soft money," -- money given to a party rather than to a candidate. This kind of giving bypasses the law which limits individual donations to presidential candidates to $1,000.

Safire writes a Pulitzer Prize winning op-ed column for The New York Times. He has a new book called "The First Dissident," which applies the lessons of the biblical Job to modern politics. Before writing columns, Safire worked for the Eisenhower campaign and wrote speeches for the Nixon administration. He tells Terry about his frustrations with President Bush.

Quindlen has been a reporter since the age of 18, and is a syndicated Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times. Some of her recent columns have dealt with the double standards applied to the wives of Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, the rumor alleging that Clinton tried to renounce his citizenship, and the expectations that could accompany a new president.

Reporter Douglas Franz of the Los Angeles Times. He and reporter Mark Waas first broke the story that the Bush Administration continued to guarantee loans and to export military equipment to Iraq in late 1989 even though intelligence reports warned that Baghdad was developing a nuclear weapon and ballistic missiles. The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating an alleged cover-up by the C.I.A. and the Justice Department related to a loan to Saddam Hussein of five billion dollars in the years before the war, some of which was used to finance Iraq's arms program.

Political science professor and author Ron Walters has advised the Congressional Black Caucus and been a consultant to Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns. He is the author of "Black Presidential Politics in America," which offers a history of and strategic approach for blacks breaking into presidential politics.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the song "Read My Lips" by the group A Thousand Points of Night -- which is actually musician and producer Don Was. The song samples President Bush making a number of contradictory statements.

A liberal in his early years, Will joined the conservative camp while studying at Oxford. He is regarded as one the most intellectual conservative thinkers in his field. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1977. His most recent book is "Restoration," which argues that term limits for Congresspeople could improve the legislative process and discourage a divided government.

Judis was a radical in the Sixties, and came to appreciate the intellectualism and dialogue in the conservative movement, a topic he pursued as a journalist. He considers the current splintering of that movement, and where President Bush fits in.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews "The Kennedys" a new documentary on PBS about the political family. He says it evokes not just their history, but the many television shows made about them.

Isaacson has just written an extensive book about the life of Secretary of State and Nobel Prize Laureate. The writer takes us from Kissinger's boyhood in Germany, his family's flight to America in 1938, through his army career, his years at Harvard as a student and later a professor, and his rise to political power. Isaacson notes Kissinger's many accomplishments, but also portrays him as secretive, paranoid and duplicitous.

Senior writer for U.S. News and World Report Steve Roberts, and a regular on PBS's "Washington Weekend Review." President Bush has often blamed Congress for stalling on or gridlocking legislation. Terry talks with Roberts about this assertion, whether or not its true, and if so, why? And what kind of impact does it have on the President's ability to govern?

Political consultant Samuel Popkin. He's an advisor to the Clinton campaign and author of "The Reasoning Voter," a book about how voters chose candidates. He'll talk with Marty about the importance of family values on the campaign, as well as the role of the women in the political process.

Brokaw will report on the Republican National Convention from Houston along with Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil as a joint effort by NBC and PBS.

Michael Duffy, the White House correspondent for Time Magazine, has just co-written the book "Marching in Place: The Status Quo Presidency of George Bush." It's the first critical assessment of the Bush presidency. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the president's political and personal convictions, and how these are brought to bear on his governing.

TV critic David Bianculli takes a look at the proliferation of coverage of the Democratic National Convention and the election more broadly.

Feminist, journalist and essayist Barbara Ehrenreich talks with Terry about the Clinton/Gore ticket. She's disappointed by the conservative currents in the Democratic party.