Coffee and Podcasts

Tell Me More Stories:
Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee discusses the presidential debate between Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL). Alexander also talks about his own re-election campaign.
Some watching the presidential debate Tuesday night said they found the town hall-style format at times restrictive despite intentions for it to give voters a chance to set the agenda for the discussion. They also said that the candidates' answers were light on specifics.
The significance of the Latino vote in this year's presidential election is the subject of Latinos '08, a new documentary airing tonight on PBS. It gives a historic look at how the Latino vote has been courted by presidential candidates and how this year's election is playing out with Latinos.
Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan contributes to the Tell Me More series In Your Ear, when some of the guests who've dropped by share the music they listen to. Duncan shares the songs he finds inspiring and soothing.

Fresh Air Stories:
An internal Justice Department investigation has concluded that the controversial U.S. attorney firings of 2006 were of a partisan political nature. One of the seven fired attorneys, Iglesias discusses his book, In Justice, an insider's account of the affair
Last week, fliers went up in predominantly African-American neighborhoods of Philadelphia warning that people with outstanding warrants or unpaid parking tickets could be arrested if they show up at the polls. Zach Stalberg of the Committee of Seventy discusses this effort to discourage voters.
A new report issued by the nonpartisan advocacy group Common Cause gauges the voting infrastructure in 10 swing states. Tova Wang, the primary author of the report, discusses the findings
Much has been made of the effects the recent financial crisis will have on "Main Street." Linguist Geoff Nunberg Geoff Nunberg discusses how this term gained such popular — and presidential — usage.

You can click below to listen or you can click here to open up the players in a new window.

Fresh Air