Elections

National Political correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, Ronald Brownstein. He has collaborated on a new book, Storming the Gates: Protest Politics and the Republican Revival (Little, Brown and Company, written with Dan Balz, national editor of the Washington Post). In the book they look at how the Republicans captured Congress, so shortly after the defeat of George Bush in the presidential election, and how the Republican party has changed dramatically in the last ten years.

Senator Bill Bradley has written a book about his life called Time Present, Time Past published by Knopf. Bradley announced last year that he would not seek re-election in 1996. In addition to his political career, Bradley was also a star basketball player with the New York Knicks.

Pollster Stanley B. Greenberg was senior advisor to Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and currently works for the Democratic National Committee. He is credited with recognizing, nearly ten years ago, the dissatisfaction among middle class voters with the two political parties. Greenberg has a new book about the historic forces that put Bill Clinton in the White House, and consequently led to 1994's midterm Republican landslide. It's called Middle Class Dreams: The Politics and Power of the New American Majority.

Will is a conservative commentator and regular contributor to "Newsweek" and "The Washington Post." He has just published a collection of his best essays from the past four years, "The Leveling Wind: Politics, the Culture & Other News 1990-1994." He talks with Terry about last week's elections.

Washington political commentator Elizabeth Drew, author of "On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency." The book examines Clinton's first eighteen months in office. She talks with Terry about last night's election and what it will mean for the White House.

Journalist Steve Roberts. He's the senior writer for "U.S. News & World Report." Before that he covered Congress for "The New York Times." He'll talk about Tuesday's elections.

Peru's eminent novelist and former presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa. Llosa is the author of many books including "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter," (which was made into a movie, based on his own relationship with his 32-year old aunt, who he married at the age of 19), "The Storyteller," and "In Praise of the Stepmother." A London Times writer says of Llosa's novels that they are "among the finest coming out of Latin America." Llosa lived for many years in Europe.

South African journalist John Matisonn. Matisonn is white and grew up in the suburbs in Johannesburg. (His grandparents emigrated to South Africa at the turn of the century). To NPR listeners he's best known for his coverage from South Africa from 1986 to 1991. Matisonn also worked in Washington, D.C. He's now the head of elections for the South Africa Broadcasting Company, SABC, (which before the end of apartheid, broadcast purely government propaganda).

Dumisani Kumalo grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, and fled the country in the 1970s. Kumal is back in the country to act as a monitor for South Africa's upcoming elections.
Jennifer Irish is a human rights activist who is not optimistic about the elections. Irish is coordinator for the Network of Independent Monitors which is tracking election related violence.

South African writer Gerhard Maré is the author of the biography "Appetite for Power." He discusses the upcoming elections in South Africa.

From 1953 until 1989 Helen Suzman served as an Opposition Member of the South African Parliament. Suzman was a pioneering political leader in the fight against apartheid and anti-semitism. For thirteen years she was the sole representative in the Parliament to reject race discrimination.

South African journalist Rich Mkhondo joins the show to discuss the first multi-racial election in South Africa and the increasing violence in the country.

Professor of History at Princeton, Sean Wilentz. His new article in the August 9th, 1993 issue of The New Republic compares the Ross Perot phenomenon to past populist movements in American History. He argues that Perot represents populism as "a surly mood of defeat and powerlessness;" that he perhaps signals a realignment to come of the two major parties. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka. He was the first African to be awarded the Nobel prize for literature (in 1986), and he's been called Africa's "finest writers." He is a dramatist, poet, novelist, critic, and political writer. Some of his works have been banned by Nigerian regimes. He's gone into exile several times and has been imprisoned for political protests. He's written 21 books, including "Myth, Literature, and the African World," and his autobiography, "Ake': The Years of Childhood." (Ventura books).

Journalist Stan Sesser is a reporter covering Southeast Asia for the New Yorker. He has collected some of those pieces in a new book "The Lands of Charm and Cruelty: Travels in Southeast Asia." He discusses the recent elections in Cambodia which featured violence, twenty political parties and massive voter turnout

Journalist Steve Roberts is the senior writer for "U.S. News & World Report." Before that, he covered Congress for The New York Times. He'll talk with guest host Marty Moss-Coane about the 103rd Congress which just went into session. It's the most diverse group yet.

Last year, Wofford won an upset victory, becoming the first Democratic U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania since 1962. He was a key aide to President John F. Kennedy, helped establish the Peace Corps, and aided Martin Luther King, Jr. He also chaired the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee from 1987 to 1991. A new edition of Wofford's 1980 book, "Of Kennedy's & Kings: Making sense of the Sixties" has just been published.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader and conservative Paul Weyrich tell how "legalized bribery" has corrupted our government. The unlikely pair has written an introduction in Philip Stern's new book, "Still The Best Congress Money Can Buy." They say that consumer and safety-oriented legislation gets trampled in Congress because Representatives and Senators work more on behalf of their campaign donors than their constituents.

Journalist Robert Krulwich is hosting a new "Frontline" documentary on PBS, "The Best Campaign Money Can Buy," about the funds that go into the presidential campaign. In particular, the documentary looks at contributors that give "soft money," -- money given to a party rather than to a candidate. This kind of giving bypasses the law which limits individual donations to presidential candidates to $1,000.

Writer Jack Beatty has written a biography of four-time Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, called "The Rascal King." Curley, an Irish-Catholic, is a Massachusetts legend, having run in 32 elections, serving as governor, congressman, and mayor. While Curley could be dismissed as an old-fashioned machine politician, Beatty portrays him as a forerunner of the modern entrepreneurial politician.