Here & Now; 315

October 8, 2004

Here and Now, One-hour election season show with co-anchor Dave Iverson, nuclear proliferation,Presidential Debate. John Kerry and George Bush spoke to concerns over nuclear weapons material in Russia and around the world. , nuclear proliferation, President Bush and John Kerry during last week's debate in which both said that the greatest threat to the security of the United States is nuclear proliferation. To help us sort out the nature of that challenge and what the next president will have to do to confront that threat, we're joined by Mr. Gary Milhollin, the Director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, which worked to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons for the past 20 years. , stem cell, Stem cell research, three words that stir up strong opinions. The controversial research represents a crossroads where politics, science and religion merge. Presidential candidate Kerry and First Lady Laura Bush spoke to their positions on stem cells this week. Here's what they said on the subject starting with an audio quote from Mrs. Bush in her remarks Tuesday in Milwaukee. , stem cell,Tape of John Kerry talking about stem cell research and how Bush put a ban on it., stem cell,John Kerry and Laura Bush speaking about the future of stem cell research on the campaign trail this week. We asked a legal medical ethicist to explain the Kerry and Bush positions on the future of stem cell research. UW Law School Professor Alta Charo joins us now., undecided voter,Undecided and so called soft voters are political celebrities in Wisconsin and in all the so called battleground states this is year. With all of the hullabaloo we decided to find one and find one we did in Janesville. Welcome now to Donna Anderson who joins us tonight, cranberry bog flag, That was a look at the world's first cranberry bog American flag created this week in Warrens, Wisconsin. , affordable health insurance,U.S. Senate race candidates Russ Feingold and Tim Michels have been sparring over importation of prescription drugs from Canada in their TV ads. That's just one of the issues related to the spiraling cost of health care being debated. Producer Art Hackett says small businesses in Wisconsin are searching for ways to make health insurance affordable. , affordable prescription drugs from Canada, U.S. Senate candidates Russ Feingold and Tim Michels are in favor of affordable prescription drugs from Canada. But along the way, as always, their claims are made in their ads. Those spots are the subject of tonight's Reality Check report with Wisc-TV's Colin Benedict. , analysis of political advertising in battleground states,Political scientist who is monitoring political advertising and campaign commercials across the country. Ken Goldstein and his research team are spending the campaign with a pencil in one hand and remote control in the other. He joins us with an update on findings so far -unprecedented levels of advertising tightly focused on battleground states, home stretch panel, Home stretch panel to guide us through this last month of the campaign. Three former candidates will join us to give us a candidate's eye view of the last weeks of the campaign. So, let's welcome our panel. Republican John Sharpless who ran for congress in 2000 against 2nd District Democrat Tammy Baldwin. Democrat Ed Garvey who ran for governor in 1998 against Tommy Thompson and the former Governor's brother Ed Thompson who ran for governor in his own right in 2002.