Will Last Night's Debate Make a Difference?

Making News

Bernanke Leaves Door Open for Further Rate Cuts ()

"The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable" and "the risks to this outlook remain on the downside." That the grim commentary today from Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, testifying before Congress.  Edmund Andrews writes about economics for the New York Times.

Guests:

• Edmund Andrews: Chief Washington Economics Correspondent, New York Times

Main Topic

Will Last Night's Debate Make a Difference? ()

In Cleveland, Ohio Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton zeroed in on each other and the economy, with special focus on the North American Free Trade Agreement, but differences over healthcare got more time than anything else. Did Clinton do what she needed to stop Obama’s momentum? Does either one really want to re-negotiate NAFTA? One Houston paper says Obama has already won in Texas, with a week still to go. But a new, national poll says, that either one will have a tough time against John McCain in November, showing their Republican rival with an edge in experience and the war on terror, even on the economy. Although a majority said the war in Iraq was not worth waging, half said McCain was best equipped to deal with it.

Guests:

• Jennifer Palmieri: Advisor, John Edward's 2008 presidential campaign
• Jonathan Alter: Senior Editor and Columnist, Newsweek
• John "Rick" MacArthur: Publisher, Harper's
• Andrew Leonard: Staff Writer, Salon.com, @koxinga21
• Cal Jillson: Professor of Political Science, Southern Methodist University

Links:

• Saturday Night Live sketch on Obama-Clinton debate
• Patriot Employers Act (S 1945)
• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
• Rick Casey's (Houston Chronicle) article on Obama taking Texas
• Alter's article on Clinton
• MacArthur's 'The Selling of Free Trade: NAFTA, Washington, and the Subversion of American Democracy'
• Leonard's article on Clinton and Obama debating NAFTA
• Jillson's 'Pursuing the American Dream: Opportunity and Exclusion over Four Centuries'

Reporter's Notebook

Leading Conservative Intellectual, William F. Buckley, Dies Today ()

Since World War II, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan have been America's predominant conservative politicians, but William F. Buckley was the intellectual who founded the movement. Buckley was a lonely voice in the 1950's, but he became a familiar one. He was founder of the National Review and host of Firing Line on public TV. Ill with emphysema, Buckley died at work in Stamford, Connecticut at the age of 82. George Nash, whose books include The Conservative Intellectual Movement in American Since 1945, is president of the Philadelphia Society, a conservative group Buckley founded.

Guests:

• George Nash: President, Philadelphia Society

Links:

• Nash's 'The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America since 1945'