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It was a week for the history books — and history won’t stop for Barack Obama. President-elect Barack Obama now.

The Dow down a thousand points in two days. Warren Buffett, Paul Volker, two former Treasury Secretaries and the CEO of Google, gathering already today with Obama on the economy. Teams being formed.

Barack and Michelle scheduled to meet George and Laura in the White House on Monday.

In California, gays deal with a brand-new ban on gay marriage. And across the country, Americans take stock of an epic vote.

This hour, On Point: a monumental week.

You can join the conversation. What have we seen, what have we learned this week about America? And would you want the job Barack Obama is about to take on?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Bill McKenzie, editorial columnist for The Dallas Morning News.

Debra Dickerson, writer and blogger for Mother Jones and author of “The End of Blackness.”

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

NOTE TO OUR LISTENERS: Our website was down this morning from approximately 9:45am to 10:30am ET. We hope you’ll continue to post your comments here throughout the day. Audio for this hour will be posted by 2pm today. Thanks for your patience. -On Point Staff

Sen. John McCain gestures as he delivers his concession speech at an election night rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 4, 2008. (AP)

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Listen to Republicans talk about their morning-after nightmare — looking at the map of Tuesday’s election results — and you know they’ve got trouble:

“Drubbing” … “Deep wilderness” … “Steep hill to climb” … “Ruins.”

After decades of dominance in American politics, the GOP is on the outs in the House, the Senate, and the White House. Back on its heels in state after state it once owned. Uncertain that its old alliance of cultural, economic, and security hawks still works. Talking rebirth, but around who? Palin? Pawlenty? Jindal?

On Tuesday, the new face of America, the young and minorities, came out to vote Democrat. Today, top Republicans are convening in Virginia to talk about the party’s future. How do they grow the ranks? Bring in new voters? Create a new message that resonates?

This hour, On Point: The Republican Party in defeat and debating how to rebuild. We’ll talk to conservative thinkers about the way forward.

You can join the conversation. In what direction would you like to see the Republican party go? What can they do to regain the trust of conservative Americans?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

From Arlington, Virginia, we’re joined by Jonathan Martin, senior political writer for Politico. His piece today looks at the “GOP in dire straits.”

Also with us from Arlington is Tony Fabrizio, partner with Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates, a research and consulting firm. In 1996 he served as chief pollster and GOP strategist to Bob Dole’s presidential campaign. His recent analysis of the Republicans’ 2008 troubles was titled, “Top GOPers: It’s Bush and Rove’s fault.”

From Washington we’re joined by Peter Berkowitz. He’s a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He served as a senior advisor on foreign policy for Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign.

And with us from San Diego, California, is Roger Hedgecock. He’s a nationally syndicated talk-show host based in San Diego. For more than a decade he served as Rush Limbaugh’s top fill-in host. He’s the former mayor of San Diego and author of a series of campaign issue books called “The 2008 Conservative Voter’s Field Guide.”

John McCain in Defiance, Ohio, Oct. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Barack Obama in Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 31, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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What a campaign year. David Broder, dean of political reporters, calls it the best he’s ever seen. Better than Nixon-Kennedy in 1960.

And the election tomorrow? Maybe transformative, the pundits say. As big as 1860, 1932, 1968. The page-one newspaper language out there: “epochal,” “historic,” “once-in-a-lifetime.”

And at the heart of both candidates’ core promises: change. How big? How much? In what direction?

The country faces enormous challenges. Eighty-six percent of Americans think the country’s headed in the wrong direction. This hour, on the last day before the vote, we sit down with two big thinkers — one liberal, one conservative — to look at the candidates’ promises of change, and what they could mean for resetting the national direction.

You can join the conversation. Broad stroke, big theme, what’s the change you’d like to see? If you’re in the 86 percent who say we’re on the wrong course, how would you turn the wheel?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Princeton, New Jersey, is Robert George, conservative philosopher and professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University. He is director of Princeton’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He is a member of President Bush’s Bioethics Council, and he formerly sat on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He is author of “Embryo: A Defense of Human Life” and “The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion and Morality in Crisis.”

And joining us from New York City is Alan Brinkley, professor and provost at Columbia University and a preeminent historian of American liberalism. He has won the National Book Award and authored two widely used college textbooks on American history. He’s also author of “Liberalism and Its Discontents” and “The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War.”

More Links:

Each candidate makes his case for change in side-by-side opinion pieces in today’s Wall Street Journal. See “What We’re Fighting For” by John McCain and “The Change We Need” by Barack Obama.

David von Drehle’s new piece in Time, “How They Would Lead,” explores how promises of change might translate into policy and governance.

For a sense of how McCain’s temperament and leadership style might guide his potential presidency, check out David Kirkpatrick’s profile in The New York Times.

And for a sense of the complications of an Obama victory, The Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Weisman gives an inside account of Democratic factions already jockeying to control the agenda.

Voters stand in line to cast their ballots early at the Fulton County Annex in Sandy Springs, Georgia, on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008. (AP)

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And so it came to pass, after months and years of speech and confrontation, that America came to the last week of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Barack Obama blanketed the airwaves with a half-hour TV infomercial for his kind of change. John McCain played catch-up with warnings of a Democratic sweep and calls for last-ditch battle.

Conservative George Will called Sarah Palin a bigger drag on McCain than George Bush.

And voters streamed in record numbers to vote long before Election Day.

This hour, On Point: the last, long week of the ’08 campaign.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Washington is Karen Tumulty. She’s national political correspondent for Time magazine and writes for Time.com’s Swampland blog. Her piece in the magazine’s latest issue is “Hidin’ Biden: Reining In a Voluble No. 2.”

Also from Washington is Gerald Seib. He’s assistant managing editor and executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal. He writes the paper’s weekly Capital Journal column, in which he looked this week at the impact of race on the campaign. He is co-author, with John Harwood, of “Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power.”

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

Top: John McCain in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Oct. 28, 2008. (AP) Bottom: Barack Obama in Canton, Ohio, Oct. 27, 2008.

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With just five days to go before Americans cast their ballots for a new president, Barack Obama and John McCain are blitzing potentially pivotal states, shoring up support and trying to win over undecided voters.

If you believe the polls, it’s Obama’s race to lose, and the avenues to victory are narrowing for McCain. But if history is any guide, the race will likely tighten in the coming days, so McCain, the warrior, is not waving a white flag, and Obama is warning against over-confidence.

This hour, On Point: From Pennsylvania to Colorado, Florida to Ohio, it’s the final push in the battleground states.

You can join the conversation. Are you following the polls, tracking the electoral map? What do you see? Do you live in a battleground state? How does the race look to you? Tell us what you’re seeing and hearing.

-Anthony Brooks, guest host

Guests:

From Washington, we’re joined by David Wasserman, political analyst for the Cook Political Report. See the Cook Report’s current outlook on the presidential race.

Joining us from Northern Ohio is Joe Hallet, senior editor and political writer for the Columbus Dispatch. He’s traveling with John McCain and we’re catching up with him on the press bus.

Joining us from Denver, Colorado, is Karen Crummy, political reporter for The Denver Post.

From Miami, Florida, we’re joined by Beth Reinhard, political reporter for The Miami Herald.

And from Pennsylvania, we’re joined by John Micek. He’s covering the presidential race for the Allentown Morning Call.

More links:

See the latest polls and analysis at RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight.com.

A U.S. soldier patrols outside a Forward Operating Base near the Pakistani border in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. (AP)

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War — in Iraq and Afghanistan — was supposed to be the defining issue of the 2008 campaign. Instead, Americans are riveted by Wall Street’s meltdown and global financial collapse. The economy ate the wars.

But the wars go on. Just today, news of fierce Iraqi turf battles. The White House maybe ready to talk with the Taliban. Spillover American strikes into Syria and Pakistan. High costs. No resolution.

John McCain and Barack Obama talk different games on the wars. Either would be seriously challenged by them.

This hour, On Point: With one week to Election Day, a basic, brutal issue: the wars.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

From Washington, we’re joined by Tom Bowman, Pentagon reporter for National Public Radio. He recently reported on the U.S. search for a new strategy in Afghanistan.

Joining us in our studio is Joseph Nye, professor of international relations at Harvard University. He served as Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Clinton. He is the author of several books, including “Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics” (2004) and, most recently, “The Powers to Lead.”

And from McClean, Virginia, we’re joined by Robert Kagan, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, columnist for The Washington Post, and contributor to The Weekly Standard. He is an informal adviser to John McCain, and he served in the State Department under President Reagan. His new book is “The Return of History and the End of Dreams.”

More links:

Barack Obama’s campaign website spells out his positions on Iraq and defense; John McCain’s website explains his positions on Iraq and national security.

For differing views on the candidates’ foreign policy positions, see David Sanger’s recent New York Times article “Rivals Split on U.S. Power, But Ideas Defy Labels,” Nicholas Lemann’s New Yorker feature “World’s Apart,” and Robert Kaiser’s Washington Post article, “Iraq Aside, Nominees Have Like Views on Use of Force.”

Supporters of Sen. John McCain, dressed as Joe the Plumber, near a rally for Sen. Barack Obama in Roanoke, Va.., Oct. 17, 2008. (AP)

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First it was the economy, meltdown, and bail-out, and now the hot talk on the campaign trail is all about how to survive the meltdown and pay for a comeback. About taxes and spending.

Suddenly, Joe the Plumber is a star and McCain is calling Obama’s plans “socialist.” That after a Republican White House nationalized American banks.

One thing is true: Barack Obama and John McCain have very different plans on tax policy. And neither, say the experts, would really balance the budget.

Today, we’ll make their plans as clear as we can, so you understand what they could mean for your bottom line. And also for America’s soaring federal deficit.

This hour, On Point: Big issue — taxes, spending and your money under McCain or Obama.

You can join the conversation. Who’s singing your song on taxes and spending? McCain or Obama? Who’s got the edge, the answer, for our challenges now? Tell us what you think.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Washington is William Gale. He is vice president and director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution and co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, which has analyzed both candidates’ tax plans.

Also from Washington, we’re joined by Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan research group that has looked at the budget implications of the candidates’ plans.

More links:

The Washington Post has published a chart comparing the candidates’ tax plans.

And you can read the candidates’ tax policies at the official Obama and McCain campaign websites.

Large windmills and solar panels are seen Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, in Atlantic City, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

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The economy and Wall Street crisis are like the whale that has surfaced to swallow the presidential campaign season. We saw it again in the debate last night.

But the bigger leviathan, the deeper monster waiting to bite, may still be energy and the environment.

John McCain and Barack Obama each have big plans on nukes, clean coal, and global warming. But their tag lines are very different: “Drill, baby, drill!” versus wind, solar, innovate.

Can we still afford either? Do we have a choice? We’ll ask their top advisers.

This hour, On Point: energy, the environment, and the choice on election day.

You can join the conversation. Who do you trust to lead the country toward a cleaner, safer energy future? And will economic crisis speed the move? Or slow it down?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

From San Francisco, we’re joined by James Woolsey, energy adviser to the McCain campaign, director of the CIA from 1993 to 1995, now a VantagePoint Ventures partner and Annenberg Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He is a founding member of the Set America Free Coalition, which advocates for energy independence. To find out more about McCain’s ideas, see his energy plan.

From Washington, we’re joined by Elgie Holstein, senior energy policy adviser to the Obama campaign. Under President Clinton, he was chief of staff at the Energy Department and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. To find out more about Obama’s ideas, see his energy plan.

Also from Washington is Keith Johnson, energy reporter for The Wall Street Journal and writer of its “Environmental Capital” blog.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain pauses as he speaks at a rally at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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Last debate tonight. Two weeks and change ’til election day.

And John McCain is way down in the polls. Tumbling. In national polls, down by double digits to Barack Obama. In key swing states, down. Among white women voters, down.

For weeks, McCain and Sarah Palin hit the trail with angry, almost mob-stirring attacks on Obama. It backfired. McCain suspended his campaign to, he said, jump on the economic crisis. That backfired, too.

Ronald Reagan came back from a deeper hole, in less time, in 1980. Can McCain do it this time?

This hour, On Point: the McCain campaign, trailing, and running out of time.

You can join the conversation. Are you a supporter who has drifted away? Can McCain and Palin win you back? Is it too late? Tell us what you think.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

We’re joined first from New York by Frank Luntz. He’s a well-known political pollster whose clients have included Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani, and he’s been running post-debate focus groups for Fox News. He’s the author of “Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear.”

From Boston we’re joined by Jonathan Kaufman, senior reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering the campaign. His latest piece looks at the shift of working-class women to Obama as the economy has worsened.

Joining us from Washington, DC, is David Winston. President and founder of The Winston Group, he’s a Republican pollster and strategist currently advising House Minority Leader John Boehner and other GOP congressional leaders. He served as director of planning for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and was chief information officer for the Republican National Committee from 1989-1993.

And from New York we’re joined by Holly Bailey, a correspondent for Newsweek traveling with John McCain on the campaign trail.

People walk to work on Wall Street last week. (AP)

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Whatever the candidates planned to run on to win the presidency, there’s One Big Issue that has galloped past the Iraq war, terrorism and everything else. You know it, we know it, they know it: It’s the economy.

It’s how do we get out of this mess, and then, what will the new rules of the road be? That’s our issue.

Barack Obama and John McCain come at America’s suddenly-raging economic challenge with different instincts, different records, different plans, and different parties behind them. What would they do as president?

This hour, On Point: We’re talking with the top economic advisors to candidates McCain and Obama on how they would put the United States back on the path to prosperity.

You can join the conversation. What’s your question, your advice, for the men who have the ear of Obama and McCain on the economy? Who do you trust to change the course that brought us to crisis? Do you want to change?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Greg Ip, U.S. economics editor for The Economist. He led the magazine’s recent survey of 142 economists for their views of the two candidates’ economic policies.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, senior policy adviser to John McCain. He served as chief economist on George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers in 2001-2002 and as director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2003-2005. Most recently, he was a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Austan Goolsbee, senior economic adviser to Barack Obama. He is an economist at The University of Chicago and the Progressive Policy Institute, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and former editor of the Journal of Law and Economics.

UPDATE:

Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic points to the exchange during this show between Holtz-Eakin and Goolsbee over the Treasury Secretary Paulson’s proposal to recapitalize banks, which Holtz-Eakin called “disturbing” and “not the way things should be done in the United States.” We’ve posted a transcript of the exchange here.

Senators Obama and McCain at the second presidential debate. (AP)

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They called it a “town hall” debate in Nashville, but in many ways it looked more like a dance. Two contestants, running through their steps.

Obama unflappable, cool. McCain passionate, on the attack. The polite town hall audience looking more than a little shell-shocked by the economic hurricane blasting the world outside.

Everything is on the line here. The election, with the days ticking down. The economy, with markets quaking.

The country’s future, with McCain and Obama battling to frame the challenges their way.

This hour, On Point: As the world reels, the debate in Nashville.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Jake Tapper, senior national correspondent for ABC News. You can read his live blogging on last night’s debate on his Political Punch blog.

Joining us from New York is Bob Shrum. A veteran Democratic strategist, he has worked on eight presidential campaigns, beginning with George McGovern’s in 1972, and was chief strategist for John Kerry in 2004. He’s the author of “No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner.”

Joining us from Los Angeles is Dan Schnur. A leading Republican strategist who has worked on four presidential and three gubernatorial campaigns, he was director of communications for John McCain’s 2000 presidential run. He is now director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.

Bill Schneider, senior political analyst for CNN. He is also a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a contributing editor at the Los Angeles Times, National Journal, and The Atlantic Monthly.

More links:

CNN has the transcript of the Nashville debate, and C-SPAN offers the full video on YouTube, here:

A newspaper headline is taped to a booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008. (AP)

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A gut-wrenching week that started with market meltdown and stumbled into a vice-presidential debate with ever quite finding its feet.

On Monday, the bailout package and the Dow Jones Industrials went down together like Hindenburg. By mid-week, some revival in the markets and a Senate resuscitation for the rescue. But no guarantees on where we’re headed.

And then came Sarah and Joe. Palin versus Biden. The VP pick who stares into the camera and winks at the nation. And the Senate veteran who tried to punch right through to John McCain.

This hour, On Point: Behind the headlines of a big, big week.

You can join the conversation. What did you make of Biden versus Palin? Are you ready for the rescue? The bailout? The path ahead? Let us know your thoughts.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Washington is Tony Blankley, columnist for The Washington Times and a visiting senior fellow in national-security communications at the Heritage Foundation.

Also with us from Washington is Margaret Talev, correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers’ Washington bureau. She has been covering the negotiations in Congress over the bailout, and was on the campaign trail with Obama this week in Detroit and Colorado.

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

Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in Columbus, Ohio. (AP)

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Alaska governor Sarah Palin was a gamble for John McCain, and for a good hot stretch, there seemed little question that the gamble was paying off. Big crowds, wild enthusiasm from Republican backers, and a smiling pitbull of a running mate in McCain’s corner.

Now, on the cusp of her big debate with Joe Biden, the Palin payoff looks more uncertain.

The rambling, disjointed interview clips with Katie Couric keep coming. Poll numbers are down. Tina Fey is on her case. But she’s a fighter.

This hour, On Point: Looking at Sarah Palin, on debate day, one month into her national political career.

You can join the conversation. Have you seen her on the stump? On the spot with Katie Couric? How do you judge Sarah Palin?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Steve Braun, national political reporter at the Los Angeles Times. He recently spent two weeks in Alaska reporting on Governor Palin’s record as a politician and campaigner in the state. His latest piece is “Underestimate Palin at your own risk, former rivals say.”

Mona Charen, conservative syndicated columnist and author of “Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help (and the Rest of Us).”

Kathleen Parker, conservative syndicated columnist for Tribune newspapers and author of “Save the Males: Why Men Matter, Why Women Should Care.” Her column on Sept. 26 called for Sarah Palin to bow out.

Ken Vogel, senior reporter at Politico, where his latest piece looks at the McCain campaign “keeping Palin sequestered.” He’s been out on the hustings with Gov. Palin in New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Alaska.

Security guards stand on the steps of the Supreme Court. (AP)

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While the U.S. financial crisis marches on, the country marches toward November 4th and a presidential election with consequences way beyond a buck — even seven hundred billion bucks.

High on the list: the make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court. The next President of the United States might name three new justices to the high court. Depending who does the naming, that could transform assumptions about life and death in this country.

After four years, or eight — or maybe a President Palin — the path of a McCain court could look very different from an Obama court’s. On abortion. On habeas corpus. On presidential powers. Clean air and water. Food and drug safety. Church and state. This could be a different country.

This hour, On Point: Imagining what a “McCain court” or “Obama court” would mean for America.

You can join the conversation. Who do you want putting new judges on that bench? The highest bench? And why? Share your thoughts.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Jan Crawford Greenburg, legal affairs correspondent for ABC News and author of “Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.”

Laurence Tribe, professor at Harvard Law School. His new book is “The Invisible Constitution.” He has argued before the Supreme Court 35 times.

Richard Garnett, professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School. He contributes to the “Bench Memos” blog at National Review Online. He clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama face off at a presidential debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. (AP)

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Thirty-six days to the presidential election. After all the hoopla and drama and long march and hard slog, thirty-six days to go.

Friday night, 57 million Americans tuned in for the first McCain-Obama debate. It wasn’t exactly a barn-burner. But the die will be cast in just five weeks now, and the campaigns are lining up for the homestretch.

After a post-GOP convention panic, Obama supporters have seen their man climb in the polls. After a big Palin bump, McCain has sagged. But anything can happen here.

This hour, On Point: Obama, McCain, and the home stretch to the White House.

You can join the conversation. Swing voters, did Friday’s debate swing you? McCain campers, Obama campers, how are you feeling with five weeks to go? Can either candidate still win? Tell us what you think.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Nate Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight.com, a polling and political analysis website.

Mark Halperin, editor-at-large and senior political analyst for TIME magazine, where he writes The Page for Time.com. He’s a political analyst for ABC News and the author of “The Undecided Voter’s Guide to the Next President” and “The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008.”

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

A street sign for Wall Street is shown Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

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What a time — all-out financial crisis in the neck-and-neck homestretch of an historic presidential campaign, all in a handful of weeks.

Economic turmoil has the country, the world, by the throat. And it really will fall to John McCain or Barack Obama — and soon — to clean it up, or try to.

When they pick up the phone for economic advice, who do they call? Today, we’ll hear from two of those economists: McCain advisor John Taylor of Stanford, a high-ranking Treasury official under George W. Bush. And Obama advisor Lawrence Summers of Harvard, former Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton.

This hour, On Point: The hottest issue on earth — McCain, Obama, and the economy in crisis.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he’s traveling with John McCain, is John Taylor, advisor to the McCain campaign and former Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He is a professor of economics at Stanford University and a senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He also served on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors during the Ford and George H.W. Bush administrations.

Joining us from Washington is Lawrence Summers. He’s an economic advisor to Barack Obama and former Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He served as chief economist at the World Bank from 1991-1993 and was president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006.

This Sept. 4, 2007 photo shows children unloading off the bus at Eugene Field Elementary School in Silverton, Ore. (AP Photo/Statesman Journal, Lori Cain)

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Crisis in the financial markets on a scale not seen since the Great Depression. And Americans awakening to challenges that go to the bedrock of the nation’s strength.

Nothing is ultimately more bedrock than the education of our children — the readiness of our citizens and coming generations to compete and lead in a global economy. To carry the responsibilities of democracy.

Where do McCain and Obama stand? This hour, we’ll ask their top advisers where McCain and Obama would lead on a basic issue for America — education.

You can join the conversation. Can we dig out of the economic mess and win without better schools? Who do you want steering federal policy on education? McCain or Obama? And why?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Florissant, Missouri, is Jay Mathews, education columnist at The Washington Post and a guiding light among reporters on the education beat. His forthcoming book is, “Work Hard, Be Nice: How Two Inspired Teachers Created America’s Best Schools.”

Joining us from Washington is Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education at Stanford University and a member of Barack Obama’s education advisory team. She was the founding executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, the blue-ribbon panel which produced the 1996 report “What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future” (pdf).

Also from Washington, we’re joined by Lisa Graham Keegan. She is the senior policy advisor to the McCain 2008 campaign on education issues. At the National Republican Convention earlier this month, she was vice chair of the GOP political platform committee and was instrumental in developing the party’s education policy.

More links:

You can read Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s education policies, as spelled out on their official campaign sites.

Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, at the end of his acceptance speech to the Party’s convention last night. (AP Photo)

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All week long, once the hurricane cleared, Republicans in St. Paul pounded on Barack Obama.

Last night, the GOP’s nominee for the presidency, John McCain, dialed it back, kicked his own party a little, and promised “change is coming” to Washington. A change called McCain-Palin.

Now, it’s two change themes on the campaign trail, and voters get to choose. Four more years of a Republican White House, with John McCain and Sarah Palin, or a green light for Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

This hour, On Point: Our Friday news roundtable looks at the GOP’s big week and the national choice ahead.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Eleanor Clift, contributing editor at Newsweek magazine, where she writes the Capitol Letter column. Her latest, “Nagging Doubts,” looked at Democrats’ fears about November.

Bill McKenzie, editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News. You can read his recent columns here, including his latest, “What Happened to Bush?”

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

John McCain joins Sarah Palin at the end of her speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

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Live from St. Paul, Minnesota, where it is finale time at the Republican National Convention.

It will be hard to top VP nominee Sarah Palin’s big show last night. More than 37 million viewers tuned in — almost as many as watched Barack Obama’s stadium speech in Denver.

But John McCain has a bigger challenge than besting his running mate and Obama at the podium. Tonight, he needs to nail the Republican base — and pull in the millions of independent voters he needs to put him over the top. To be rebel and Republican.

This hour, On Point: John McCain’s big night, and John McCain’s big challenge.

You can join the conversation. What do you expect to hear from John McCain tonight? What do you want to hear? Does he have to knock it out of the park tonight in order to win in November? Tell us what you think.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us here in St. Paul are:

Sen. Orrin Hatch, Republican senator from Utah. He has represented the state in the United State Senate since 1977.

Rep. Heather Wilson, Republican Congresswoman from New Mexico. Since 1988, she has represented New Mexico’s first district, which includes Albuquerque. She is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the only woman veteran in Congress.

Fred Thys, political reporter at WBUR-Boston covering the convention in St. Paul.

Jonathan Kaufman, political editor of The Wall Street Journal. His latest piece, “Palin Candidacy Exposes Divisions Among Women,” looks at how partisan and class lines have been burred in the response to her selection.

David Mark, senior editor at Politico.com.

Stephen Hayes, senior writer at The Weekly Standard. His cover story in the current issue is “How Palin Got Picked.”

And joining us from San Jose, California, is Rep. Mike Honda, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and U.S. Congressman from the California’s 15th District.

Sen. John McCain speaks in Leesville, S.C., on Sept. 28, 1999, in front of a portrait of himself during his days as a fighter pilot in Vietnam.

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Live from St. Paul, Minnesota, and John McCain’s big day at the Republican National Convention.

Last night was Sarah Palin’s — and the young Alaska governor showed no fear on the national stage. She took the week’s Republican message of “America first” and no thanks to Obama, and ran with it — hard.

But it’s the man who joined her family on that stage who would be president. The man whose POW torture history is plain in every wave to the crowd. Whose record is long — and not the usual.

This hour, On Point: Sarah Palin last night, the Republican message this week, and the life story John McCain is putting into play for the presidency.

You can join the conversation. How did you like them apples, Sarah Palin-style? Whatever your politics, did you see the appeal that rocked this house last night? What’s the Republican message you’re hearing? And are you moved—moved to vote—by the life story of John McCain? Should it put him in the White House?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Robert Timberg, McCain biographer and former reporter and editor-at-large at the Baltimore Sun, where he was White House correspondent during the Reagan administration. He’s the author of “The Nightingale’s Song” (1995), about the Vietnam experiences of five Annapolis graduates: John McCain, Bud McFarlane, Oliver North, John Poindexter, and James Webb. His 1999 book “John McCain: An American Odyssey,” drew upon the previous book.

You can read Timberg’s prologue to “John McCain: An American Odyssey.”

Howard Fineman, senior Washington correspondent and columnist at Newsweek and author of “The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country.” (Read an excerpt.)

Michael Crowley, senior editor at The New Republic. His article “Salter Ego,” on John McCain’s adviser and chief speechwriter Mark Salter, appeared in the July 30 issue.