American Politics

Richard Viguerie is considered the "funding father" of the conservative movement. In the 1970s and 80s he pioneered direct mail political fundraising. He is a co-author of America's Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power. He now heads the organization American Target Advertising Inc.

A new documentary from filmmakers Calvin Skaggs and David Van Taylor describes the emergence of evangelical Christianity as a powerful political force. With God on Our Side: George W. Bush and the Rise of the Religious Right is being broadcast on the Sundance Channel. Van Taylor and Skaggs run the documentary company Lumiere Productions.

British journalists John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge traveled across America to write their new book The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America. The book examines the history of the conservative movement in the United States. Micklethwait and Wooldridge both write for The Economist.

Mark Bowden's article about the 25th anniversary of the Iranian Hostage crisis will be featured in the December issue The Atlantic Monthly. On Nov. 4, 1979 a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took hostage the entire American diplomatic team — which resulted in a 15-month international crisis that still has reverberations today. Bowden interviewed the former hostage-takers for his article.

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.

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.

Critic-at-large John Powers talks about last night's election coverage.

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."

David Margolick, contributing editor at Vanity Fair, co-authored the investigative article in the October issue of the magazine, "The Path to Florida: What Really Happened in the 2000 Election. And What's Going On Right Now." For the article, Margolick talked to some of the Supreme Court law clerks working at the time of the decision in the 2000 presidential election.

Chicago is considered to be a Democratic city, yet The Chicago Tribune is endorsing President Bush. The paper received thousands of letters and e-mails in response. From the Tribune we speak with editorial page editor Bruce Dold, and letters editor Dodie Hofstetter.