American Politics

As president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Andy Stern led his union -- along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and several others -- out of the AFL-CIO to start the Change to Win Federation, the first new labor movement in 50 years.

Journalists Mark Halperin and John Harris have collaborated on a new book, The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. Halperin is the political director of ABC News and creator of "The Note," its online tip sheet. Harris is the national political editor of The Washington Post. They write that the United States is "on the brink of what promises to be one of the most intensely fought and consequential presidential elections in its history."

Former New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey. His new memoir, The Confession details his life and events leading up to his August 2004 coming-out speech. McGreevey was governor from January 2002 to November 2004, when he resigned. In addition to coming out as a homosexual, McGreevey appointed alleged Israeli lover Golan Cipel to the position of New Jersey's Homeland Security adviser. Since the publication of The Confession, Cipel has stated that he was not McGreevey's lover, as detailed in McGreevey's book.

Reporters Jeff Whelan and Josh Margolin have been covering Jim McGreevey for The Newark Star-Ledger. The two journalists won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for breaking the McGreevey story.

New York Times columnist Frank Rich's new book is The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina. Rich has been with the Times since 1980, when he was named chief theater critic.

Max Blumenthal is a Puffin Foundation writing fellow at the Nation Institute, based in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in various publications, and he is a research fellow at Media Matters for America. He has written extensively about the conservative movement, and the Christian right. His recent article in The Nation is "Birth Pangs of a New Christian Zionism."

John Hagee is the founder of the Christian Zionist group, Christians United for Israel. He is the senior pastor of Cornerstone Church an evangelical church in San Antonio, Texas. He is also the author of a number of books; his most recent is Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World.

On today's show we look into the Christian Zionist movement, made up of evangelical Christians who see the rebirth of Israel as a prelude to the second coming of Christ. Journalist Gershom Gorenberg is former associate editor and columnist for The Jerusalem Report.

Journalist Wayne Slater has written extensively about the influence of Karl Rove on President Bush. His new book is The Architect: Karl Rove and The Master Plan for Absolute Power. Rove has been involved with the Bush family for nearly 30 years and worked with George W. Bush on every one of his campaigns.

Foreign policy expert Joseph Cirincione is senior vice president for National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. He s been called a nonproliferation guru. His soon-to-be-published book is called Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons.