As we wait for word from the Bush and Kerry camps, one thing is clear: This morning, America is very much red. Republicans strengthened their hold on both Houses and now have a clear shot at remaking the Supreme Court. And while everyone waits on the final word, the current results show a majority of voters stand with the president and his policies and his persistence in the war on terror, and the war in Iraq.

Guests:

Tom Patterson, Professor of Government and Press at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government

Walter Shapiro, Political Columnist for USA Today

Ryan Lizza, Senior Editor of The New Republic

Jo Becker, Washington Post reporter

Rick Davis, John McCain’s campaign manager

Elaine Kamarck, former senior advisor to Vice President Al Gore

Americans like stories. Not long stories like the one Russians embrace, but short, instructive tales that end well. William Dean Howells described the national literary appetite this way: “What the American public always wants is a tragedy with a happy ending.” But where’s the happy ending in a political campaign? Especially at a time when the country is so evenly and intensely divided, when one voter’s happy ending is another’s tragedy.

On this Election Day, we put aside the polls and predictions. Instead we’re looking at this election through the writers’ eye — imagining and examining the themes, characters and plot twists that have made Campaign 2004.

Guests:

Gish Jen, author of “The Love Wife”

Thomas Mallon, author of “Bandbox”

By Tuesday evening as many as 120 million Americans are expected to have cast their ballots — and that’s up significantly from 4 years ago. Back then, the lesson was that every vote counts, and every vote should be counted.

Here’s where the specter of the Electoral College remains. This time every vote counts a lot if you live where the race is close in Florida, or Pennsylvania, But less so if you live in safe states like California, or Texas. That’s because individual votes don’t select a president, the Electoral College does. Does it give Americans the democracy they deserve?

Guests:

John Mangels, reporter and election coordinator for the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Alexander Keyssar, Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School

Geneva Overholser, Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting at the Missouri School of Journalism

Judith Best, Political Science Professor at State University of New York at Cortland

Last week, people all over the world got an unusual glimpse of Yasser Arafat out of his military uniform as he was lifted, looking frail and disoriented, onto a helicopter in Ramallah.

The image of the weakened leader brings both a shudder and a list of questions to the Palestinian people. As President of the Palestinian Authority he has been sidelined in both Israeli and international politics and kept under house arrest in a shell-battered compound in Ramallah for almost three years.

Inside his own camp, Arafat maintains a tight grip on leadership of the Palestine Authority by refusing to share power or name a successor. And while his health condition now seems stable, his role as political leader is anything but.

Guests:

Saeb Erekat , Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council;Michael Hudson, Director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University;
Tahgreed El Khodary , correspondent for Al Hayat, LBC Television and stringer for The New York Times;Ari Shavit, political columnist for Ha’Aretz.

It’s the day before the election, and eyes are once again, on the Sunshine State. In a final plea for votes, both candidates were crossing the state this weekend, each one hoping for a decisive enough result so the country won’t be held in electoral limbo as it was four years ago.

This time around, the rhetoric is hotter, and the race is tighter — and the memories of 2000 are back along with questions about which ballots count and who counts ballots. There are also new complications — like electronic voting machines that offer accessibility but no paper trail, along with provisional ballots and absentee ballots which may not be counted right away.

There are other states with similar problems; Ohio for example still has its punch ballot system. But one of the keys to victory is Florida and its prize of 27 electoral college votes.

Guests:

David Boies, Gore’s lawyer in Florida 2000. He’s representing Kerry in FL this election

Ben Ginsberg, Bush’s lawyer in Florida 2000

Congresswoman Corinne Brown (D-FL)

Ion Sancho, Supervisor of Elections in Leon County, FL

Ryan Lizza, Senior Editor, The New Republic

Michael Mayo, Columnist, South Florida Sun Sentinel.