Sen. Joe Biden and Sen. Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

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It’s been the Democrats’ week in Denver and beyond, with images of Joe Biden, the Clintons, multi-hued delegates — and last night, above all, Barack Obama at the center of a roaring crowd of 84,000, accepting his party’s historic nomination for the presidency.

A dukes-up Obama, reminding the stadium and GOP: “We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me Democrats won’t defend this country.”

Now, John McCain moves into the spotlight with a VP pick. And big storm Gustav moves ominously toward New Orleans.

This hour, On Point: From Denver, our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Chrystia Freeland, U.S. managing editor of The Financial Times.

Gebe Martinez, columnist for Politico.com.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

The stage is set at Invesco Field in Denver where Barack Obama will accept the Democratic nomination for President. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Broadcasting live tonight from Invesco Field, Denver’s mile-high-stadium, where the Denver Broncos play. Tonight, under a clear Colorado sky, this big stadium and the 70,000-plus crowd pouring in, are all about Barack Obama. Tonight, the Illinois Senator will accept his party’s nomination and become the first African-American major-party candidate in history to be nominated for President of the United States.

His journey to this moment has been extraordinary. In 2004, Obama — then a little known candidate for the U.S. Senate — delivered an electrifying keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. After that speech, the headlines read: rising star for the Democrats. Just four years later, he is their nominee.

There have been some big speeches this week, but for sheer scale, nothing compares to this night: The nation’s first African-American presidential nominee, on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, at a time of national trial, before a crowd of more than 70,000. This is as big as it gets.

This hour, On Point: We are in the stadium. From Invesco Field in Denver, Barack Obama’s big night.

You can join the conversation. What do you need to hear — want to hear — from Barack Obama tonight?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Rep. James Clyburn, Congressman from South Carolina’s 6th district since 1993 and Majority Whip in the 110th Congress.

Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent for The New Yorker. His article on Obama’s Chicago years, “Making It: How Chicago shaped Obama,” was published in July.

Jonathan Kaufman, political editor of The Wall Street Journal. His piece in today’s paper, “Rethinking Racial Progress,” looks at how the 1980s, once seen as a lowpoint, are now seen as a time when big strides were made toward the civil-rights goals of the 1960s.

Fred Thys, political reporter for WBUR-Boston.

Frank Donatelli, deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Laura Washington, columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times.

Watch Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco Field on Thursday night, August 28, 2008:

Watch Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, on August 28, 1963, in Washington, DC:

And here’s the much-talked-about advertisement from the McCain campaign, airing tonight in battleground states around the time of Obama’s acceptance speech:

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Barack Obama speaks to a crowd estimated at over 250,000 in Tiergarten Park in Berlin, Germany on July 24, 2008. (David Katz/Obama for America)

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We’re broadcasting live, one last time, from Denver’s Pepsi Center, where the tent is coming down on the Democratic National Convention.

Tonight, it’s Barack Obama in the big stadium next door. Las night it was Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, arguing that America needs Barack Obama, and so does the world.

We’ve got all fifty states represented here this week, but the whole world is watching, too. At press conferences around Denver, and from the buzz of TV and radio reporters all over, you hear the lilt of Italian, the sounds of German, Chinese, Arabic, Urdu.

American presidential politics always draw the world’s ear. Barack Obama’s candidacy has drawn more: real, intense interest in a different kind of candidate, at a time when American global standing has fallen stunningly low.

This hour, On Point: We’re talking with journalists from around the world gathered here in Denver about how the world sees Obama and America’s global challenge now.

You can join the conversation. International listeners, how do you see Barack Obama? American listeners: How do you weigh your presidential options for a face to show the world … McCain versus Obama? Tell us what you think.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Janine Zacharia, diplomatic correspondent for Bloomberg News.

Cordula Meyer, senior correspondent for Der Spiegel, the big German weekly news magazine. She’s been writing from Washington for the past year, tracking American politics.

Sergio Davila, Washington correspondent for Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest daily newspaper.

Aziz Haniffa, managing editor and political correspondent for India Abroad, which circulates in North America. He has interviewed Barack Obama and President Bush, and has traveled in the White House press corps.

Susan Rice, senior foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama, leading his foreign policy team. She was assistant secretary of state under President Bill Clinton.

Sen. Joe Biden smiles after arriving at the Pepsi Center for the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

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Live from Denver on Day Three of the Democratic National Convention.

Tonight, Barack Obama, formally, finally, being made the Democrats’ choice. The nominee. There’s been a flurry of nominations, roll call, and cheers in the last ninety minutes. We’ll bring it all to you.

Then we’ll turn the spotlight on Bill Clinton, who speaks tonight, and Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, who makes his big address.

This hour, live from Denver, we’re looking at Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and the Democrats in Denver.

You can join the conversation. What do you want to hear from Joe Biden? From Bill Clinton? Are Democrats making the case? Tell us what you think.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Margaret Talev, national political correspondent for the McClatchy Washington Bureau. She’s been on the road with Obama this week and joins us from the press bus in Denver. You can read her recent reporting here.

Fred Thys, political reporter for WBUR-Boston. He joins us here in the Pepsi Center, where he’s been following the action on the convention floor.

Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

Joe Klein, columnist for Time magazine (his latest piece is “Where’s Obama’s Passion?”) and author of “Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized by People Who Think You’re Stupid.” He’s also the author (as Anonymous) of the novel “Primary Colors,” a fictionalized account of Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign in 1992.

Anna Greenberg, pollster and senior vice president at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic strategy and consulting firm. You can read her commentaries here.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

More links:

Listen back to our conversation with Joe Biden, when he was making a bid for Democratic nominee in August 2007.

Watch Barack Obama’s announcement of his VP pick on August 23, 2008:

Sen. Barack Obama greets supporters at a primary night rally in Raleigh, N.C., on May 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Live from Denver and the Democratic National Convention.

Hillary Clinton has spoken — in a powerful appeal last night to Democrats to support the rival who bested her in a landmark contest for American history.

Now, the week’s spotlight begins to turn fully toward Barack Obama — contender, phenomenon, African-American, and very possibly the next president of the United States. Against centuries of American experience, African-American experience, this is vast.

This hour, live from Denver: African-American writers Maya Angelou, Ishmael Reed, and Alice Walker on Barack Obama and this American moment.

You can join the conversation. What does Obama’s nomination — his life, his rise, his color, his challenge ahead — mean for black America? For all America? What do you make of this moment in America’s race history? We look forward to hearing from you.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us first, to look at last night’s speech from Hillary Clinton and more, is Gwen Ifill. She’s the host of Washington Week from PBS and senior correspondent for the NewsHour. Her forthcoming book is “The Breakthrough: Politics in the Age of Obama.”

With us from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is Dr. Maya Angelou. One of America’s most renowned writers, she is one of only two poets in U.S. history — herself and Robert Frost — to read at a new president’s inauguration: Bill Clinton’s in 1993, when she read this poem. She is professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University and author of numerous books, including “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Her latest book, “Letters to My Daughter,” is out on September 23.

Joining us from San Francisco is Ishmael Reed. A renowned poet and essayist, his cultural criticism has appeared in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Baltimore Sun, and many other publications. His “New and Collected Poems” was published in 2006. His new book, “Mixing It Up: Taking on the Media Bullies and Other Reflections,” has just been published. He publishes the literary magazine Konch. His piece “Going Old South on Obama” appeared in Counterpunch in January.

And with us from Mendocino, California, is Alice Walker. One of America’s leading literary voices, she’s the author of poetry, essays, and fiction, including her 1983 novel, “The Color Purple,” which won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. Her piece “Obama is the change that America has tried to hide” appeared in The Guardian in April.

Multimedia:

Watch last night’s speech by Hillary Clinton at the 2008 DNC

State standards for the Michigan delegation are prepared on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

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Live from Denver, Colorado, where it’s day two, round two, of the Democratic National Convention.

There’s a reason Barack Obama was sitting in a living room in Kansas City last night. A reason Obama is winding through Iowa, Missouri, and Montana on his way to Denver. A reason he’ll end up in Colorado. These are all battleground states.

Tonight, former Virginia Governor and now Senate candidate Mark Warner will deliver the convention’s keynote address. And Hillary Clinton will deliver her much-anticipated speech. We will look in this hour at the Hillary Clinton story.

But first, we’re going to battleground states, stories from across the country — including right here in Colorado — where Barack Obama needs to turn red states blue. Can he do it? Tonight we sit down in the convention hall with delegates from the critical front lines.

This hour, On Point: We’re live from Denver, with delegates from the real battlegrounds.

You can join the conversation. Are you from a battleground state? A state on the fence that Barack Obama needs to take? What’s the word on the street? How’s it looking for Obama? For McCain? What are the issues most important to you? And whether it’s borderline states or voters, what does Obama need to do to win?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Colorado delegate Crisanta Duran. A sixth-generation Coloradan, and Latina, she’s a 27 year-old attorney and president of Colorado Young Democrats.

North Carolina delegate Brad Thompson. He’s a third-time delegate from Raleigh, North Carolina, 60 years old, married with four children, and African American. He runs an advocacy agency for non-profits.

Michigan delegate David Hecker. A thrid-time delegate from Huntington Woods, Michigan, he’s 55 years old, married with three children, and president of the American Federation of Teachers in Michigan. He was a Hillary Clinton supporter.

Virginia delegate Carlos Del Toro. Born in Cuba and raised in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, he’s a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and had a 26-year career in the Navy including combat experience during the Persian Gulf War. He served in the Clinton White house as a White House Fellow in 1998, and served in the Virginia House of Delegates. Married with children, he is now CEO of SBG Technology Solutions.

Karen Tumulty, national political correspondent for Time magazine since 2001, she has also covered the White House and Congress for the magazine. She writes for Time.com’s Swampland blog. She co-reported Time’s piece “How Healed Is Hillary?,” posted today.

Matt Bai, political writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of “The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.” You can read an excerpt here.

Michelle Obama addresses the crowd at the Democratic Natrional Convention at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/(Darin McGregor/Rocky Mountain News)

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We’re broadcasting live from Denver on Day Two of the Democratic National Convention.

Last night, Senator Ted Kennedy, battling cancer, made an emotional appearance in Denver. He kept the old torch burning for the faithful: “The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.”

And Michelle Obama introduced her family to the world in primetime, spoke of herself and her father, and brought the big arena to its feet: “He said we know what fairness and justice and opportunity look like. And he urged us to believe in ourselves, to find the strength within ourselves to strive for the world as it should be. And isn’t that the great American story?”

Hilary Clinton speaks tonight. It’s a huge moment to test whether the party can come together and reconcile its inner struggles.

But those struggles don’t just center on big personalities, or the Obama-Clinton rivalry. Off-stage, Democrats are grappling with how to define their core philosophy. Progressives want Obama to return to the party’s liberal ideals. Conservative Blue Dogs see things very differently. This battle could define an Obama administration.

This hour, On Point: Live from Denver on day two of the Democratic National convention, we’re talking about progressives, Blue Dogs, and the battle for the center of the Democratic party.

You can join the conversation. Will it be “Happy Days are Here Again” for liberal progressives if Obama takes the White House? Are more conservative Blue Dogs wagging the dog of the Democratic party? Should they? Tell us what you think.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us at our broadcast booth in the Pepsi Center is Rep. Allen Boyd. He represents Florida’s 2nd District, which includes Tallahassee. For the last ten years, he has been a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 47 Democratic Members of the House of Representatives who advocate fiscal responsibility in the federal budgeting process.

Also with us from Denver is Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post. She’s carrying the flag these days for progressives. Her new book is “Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe.” You can read an excerpt here.

We’re also joined here in Denver by E.J. Dionne Jr., columnist for The Washington Post and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. His latest book is “Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious Right.” You can read the first chapter here.

And with us from Hanover, New Hampshire, is Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and a senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

More links:

In an “open letter” to Barack Obama titled “Change We Can Believe In,” progressive standard-bearers at The Nation, concerned about Obama’s “more cautious and centrist” stances during the summer, urge the senator “to stand firm on the principles he so compellingly articulated in the primary campaign.”

Earlier this summer, Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald said “Let’s give ‘Blue Dogs’ the Boot,” and argued that pushing conservative Democrats out of Congress might help the party stand up to the GOP.

More recently, in “Blue Dogs point way with ‘Paygo’ rules,” Gray Sasser, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, called attention to the Blue Dog Coalition’s leadership on fiscal policy.

And in a piece last week headlined “Liberal Democrats Turn on One of Party’s ‘Blue Dogs,’” The Wall Street Journal’s Brad Haynes reported on Democratic Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Carney’s fight with the progressive online activists of Blue America.

Meanwhile, Amy Sullivan of Time magazine asks “How United Are the Democrats?,” and finds that “the Democrats who will gather around the gavel in Denver are actually more united than perhaps at any other point in the past 30 years.”

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, gavels the Democratic National Convention to order in Denver on Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

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We’re live this week from the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Day One for the DNC in the mile-high city. The air may be thin here up against the towering Rockies, but the issues are thick already. Political issues: Will the Clintons swing their supporters fully behind Barack Obama? Will Obama go after McCain?

And then the real-life issues for a nation with a lot of urgent problems on its plate: energy, war, the economy.

Tonight is opening night, and it’s big theatre here in Denver’s enormous Pepsi Center, where the Jumbotron panels are ablaze with light over my shoulder and Michelle Obama will step to the podium later this evening. There’s a tribute to ailing Senator Ted Kennedy coming, too. And beneath it all, a fight to change the direction of this country on a host of fronts.

This hour, On Point: Live from Denver, we’re getting down to business with the Democrats.

You can join the conversation. On the issues that matter to you, what do you hope for, long for, fear from the Democrats? What’s the change you see in Barack Obama? Tell us what you think.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us at our broadcast booth in the Pepsi Center is Ron Brownstein, political director for Atlantic Media, publishers of The Atlantic, National Journal, and The Hotline. He’s the author of “The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America.” You can read an excerpt at NationalJournal.com.

Also with us is Gerald Seib, assistant managing editor at The Wall Street Journal. He writes the Capital Journal column and is co-author, with John Harwood, of “Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power.” You can read an excerpt at NPR.org.

And we’re also joined by Bert Johnson, State Representative from Michigan’s 5th District, which includes northeast Detroit. He has been an Obama supporter from the very beginning.

Later in the hour we’ll hear from Laura Washington, columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times.

Banners advertising the Democratic National Convention line Denver's 16th Street Mall. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

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Coming to you live this week from the “mile-high city” — Denver, Colorado — and the Democratic National Convention. It’s a beautiful city, clean and tall on the high plains, and just behind it, on the western horizon, the Rocky Mountains rise taller still.

Behind me right now, in the Pepsi Center arena in downtown Denver, is the cavernous hall where the Democrats will gather this week to formally nominate Barack Obama as their candidate for a presidential election now just ten weeks away.

The stakes are high — and climbing — as Barack Obama’s lead in the polls has narrowed. Joe Biden — Obama’s onetime rival, now VP pick — is on board. The Clintons, Hillary and Bill, will be in the house, with a huge say on party unity. And the whole world is watching.

It is going to be a historic week, and we’ll be here with you for all of it.

This hour, On Point: Live from Denver, we’re raising the curtain on the Democrats.

What do you want to see and hear from the Democrats this week in Denver? What do you need to hear from Hillary? Bill? Joe Biden? Barack Obama? You can join the conversation, right here.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Liz Halloran, senior writer for U.S. News & World Report. She covers national politics and has been out on the campaign trail throughout this election season. Her latest piece, posted today, is “How Much Did Hillary Clinton’s Historic Run Really Break the Glass Ceiling?”

Chuck Todd, political director for NBC News and on-air political analyst for “NBC Nightly News,” “Today,” “Meet the Press” and MSNBC’s “Hardball.” He also edits “First Read,” NBC’s daily political analysis on the web.

Roger Simon, chief political columnist for Politico. He has been a columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times and the Baltimore Sun, White House correspondent for The Chicago Tribune, and political editor for U.S. News & World Report. His six-part report for Politico, “Relentless: How Barack Obama Outsmarted Hillary Clinton,” appears today.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

There was history made yesterday in the Democratic Party, the first African American to claim a major party’s presidential nomination: Barack Obama — before a rapturous crowd in Minnesota — claiming the prize after an epic campaign.

And there was mystery in the Democratic Party: Hillary Clinton, watching the same last primary results come in from South Dakota and Montana — and not conceding.

“What does Hillary want?” she asked last night in New York. We don’t yet know.

This hour, On Point: Obama makes history, Clinton does not concede.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Richard Wolffe, senior White House correspondent for Newsweek. He has been covering the presidential campaign.

E.J. Dionne, columnist for The Washington Post and a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. His latest book is “Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious Right”.

Madeleine Kunin, former Democratic governor of Vermont, from 1985 to 1991, and author of the new book, “Pearls, Politics, and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead”.

Congressman Donald Payne, he represents the 10th Congressional District of New Jersey and last month shifted his support from Clinton to Obama.

There are just two more states — one more day — in the Democrats’ marathon primary battle. South Dakota and Montana, tomorrow — and that’s it for primary voting.

But the last chapter may already have been written in Washington this weekend, when the Democrats’ Rules Committee sat down to vote on how to treat the controversial primary results of Florida and Michigan. Seat the delgates, halve their vote, was the word.

The Clinton camp charged “hijack,” and some yelled on to Denver. Obama’s poised to claim victory.

This hour, On Point: Straight from the hall, committee members explain their vote.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

June Kronholz, political reporter for The Wall Street Journal, she covered Saturday’s meeting of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee.

James Roosevelt, Co-Chair of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee, he campaigned for Bill Clinton in 1992 and later worked in the Clinton administration as an associate commissioner of the Social Security Administration. He is president and CEO of Tufts Health Plan, a Massachusetts HMO, and has remained neutral on the 2008 Democratic nomination.

Elaine Kamarck, lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a member of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Commitee. She served in the Clinton White House from 1993 to 1997, and in 2000 she was a senior policy adviser to the Gore campaign. She supports Hillary Clinton.

Carol Fowler, Chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party and member of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Commitee. She’s backing Barack Obama.

In the New Deal era, the Democrats owned the white working class. In the Civil Rights era, they lost them. Not all, of course, but enough to give Republicans win after big win.

This year, with economic challenges front and center again, the math could change. But in West Virginia and North Carolina, in Kentucky and Oregon, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been dividing Democrats from within by race and class.

Can this party get over it?

This hour, On Point: race and class in the Democratic Party, after the Clinton-Obama battle.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Johanna Neuman, reporter for The Los Angeles Times.

Anna Greenberg, pollster and senior vice president at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic strategy and consulting firm.

Wilbur Rich, professor of political science at Wellesley College and author of “African American Perspectives on the Political Science Discipline.”

Alan Abramowitz, professor of political science at Emory University and author of the forthcoming book “The Engaged Public.”

Barack Obama stepped out of the worst weeks of his campaign yesterday and turned in a big win in North Carolina.

Hillary Clinton took those same weeks, and a stretch of high Clinton camp spirits, and turned in a squeaker victory — a two-point win — in Indiana.

Everybody’s vowing to battle on, but the raw numbers get harder, faster for Clinton now. In delegates. In dollars. But she looks determined.

This hour, On Point: after Indiana and North Carolina, we ask top players from both camps — and you — when and how the Democrats should finally decide.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Liz Halloran, senior political writer for US News & World Report

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Democratic Congresswoman from Ohio and a supporter of Hillary Clinton

Joe Andrew, former Democratic National Committee chairman from Indiana and a supporter of Barack Obama

Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, a supporter of Hillary Clinton

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

It ain’t over — again. Hillary Clinton pulls out a win in Pennsylvania and sends Barack Obama and superdelegates a double-digit message: Don’t count me out.

And so, the battle for the Democratic nomination goes on, and on, and on, and on. In two weeks, primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.

On paper, the math and money favor Obama. Less clear now is which candidate has the mojo and momentum, and what the superdelegates are thinking.

This hour, On Point: the big news out of Pennsylvania and what it means for the Democrats.

-Jane Clayson

Guests:

Celinda Lake, Democratic strategist, president of Lake Research Partners, and author of “What Women Want.”

Ruth Marcus, editorial writer and columnist for The Washington Post.

Mark Halperin, editor-at-large and senior political analyst at Time magazine, he writes the campaign blog The Page.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

Tomorrow, Pennsylvanians go to the polls. For weeks Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been courting the Keystone state nonstop. The candidates have bowled, and traded bitter barbs on everything from patriotism, Iraq, small town America, and each other’s character.

We are all about Pennsylvania today, too — bringing Pennsylvanians to the microphone to tell us what they’ve learned about politicking and about the candidates who would lead the nation.

This hour On Point: Pennsylvanians tell all the day before the primary.

-Jane Clayson

Guests:

Mackenzie Carpenter, political reporter, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Don Kettl, Director, Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania, Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania.

Hayes Moses, Pastor, Greater Bethlehem Temple Church, Erie, PA.

Karen Woodings, Food Prgram Coordinator, Harrisburg, PA.

By guest host Jane Clayson

When Michigan and Florida Democrats broke the rules and moved up their primaries, they got spanked. Hard. The party poohbahs stripped them of all delegates — and their ticket to the big Democratic dance in Denver in August.

But that was before Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama got locked in a fierce nomination fight for every last delegate. Now there’s talk of “do-overs,” “mail-in primaries,” and more. And big questions about who should pay for it, who’s to blame, and what it all means for November.

This hour, On Point: The Democrats’ high-stakes battle over Michigan and Florida.

-Jane Clayson

Guests:

Jake Tapper, senior national correspondent for ABC News.

Tom Fiedler, former executive editor of The Miami Herald and visiting lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Bert Johnson, Democratic State Representative from Michigan.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democratic congresswoman from Florida’s 20th district.

At 8:30 last night, Barack Obama, in San Antonio, called John McCain, in Dallas, to congratulate the man who last night clinched the GOP nomination, to say he looked forward to running against him. And maybe Obama will.

But up in Columbus, Ohio, one Hillary Clinton was preparing a speech of her own. Before the night was over, she had won primaries in Ohio and Texas and Rhode Island, and was telling cheering supporters she would battle on and win.

This hour, On Point: This isn’t over. Clinton has her day. McCain takes the GOP prize. And the Democrats go to the trenches.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Chuck Todd, political director for NBC News.

Gebe Martinez, political contributor and columnist for Politico.com.

Jonathan Kaufman, political editor for The Wall Street Journal.

Eleanor Clift, contributing editor for Newsweek.

Matt Continetti, associate editor at The Weekly Standard.

Twenty Democratic debates, and last night, the last debate before primaries next Tuesday that could decide the Democrats’ competition. Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama were gladiators once more in a test of ideas, and integrity, and attitude.

Clinton, fierce and focused, was a commanding presence fighting for the lead she has lost. Obama, cool and determined, was under fire and fighting back.

We heard about health care, NAFTA, Iraq, and Saturday Night Live.

This hour, On Point: the last debate on the Democrats’ short road to Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Mike McIntyre, columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, covering the Clinton-Obama debate.

Ruth Marcus, columnist for The Washington Post.

Allan Rivlin, partner at Peter Hart Research Associates, a public opinion polling firm which conducts the Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll.

Jaime Castillo, columnist and former political editor at The San Antonio Express-News.

And you thought the Clinton-Obama horse race was already hot — the candidates virtually tied for votes and delegates. Now the party is locked in a behind-the-scenes horse race for the votes of superdelegates.

Those are the 795 party elites — free agents — whose votes at the Democratic convention this summer will not necessarily be bound by the will of Democratic voters.

That’s right. Talk of backroom deals and a brokered convention is real. So is talk of a Democratic train wreck as the party heads into November.

This hour, On Point: the Democrats’ superdelegate dilemma.

-Jane Clayson

Guests:

Gary Hart, former Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator from Colorado, now a professor at the University of Colorado and a supporter of Senator Barack Obama.

Elaine Kamarck, lecturer at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, former aide to President Bill Clinton, and a superdelegate supporting Senator Hillary Clinton.

Rep. Gwen Moore, Democratic congresswoman from Wisconsin and superdelegate supporting Barack Obama.

Matt Bai, writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of “The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.”

A week from tomorrow, coast to coast, and with everything on the line, the biggest day of presidential primary voting in American history will take place. On Super Tuesday, February 5th, nearly two dozen states are in play — and big ones.

The Democrats are thundering for the big day. Barack Obama is fresh off a huge win in South Carolina, with big Kennedy clan endorsements. Hillary Clinton is dug in deep, with husband Bill still blasting away.

This hour, On Point: Clinton, Obama, the Edwards factor — and the Democrats’ furious sprint for Super Tuesday.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Peter Hart, Democratic pollster and strategist, he conducts the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll together with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.

Jo Mannies, political correspondent for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Josh Margolin, political reporter for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, professor of policy at the University of Southern California and a political analyst for KNBC in Los Angeles.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.