Westly, Angelides, and Negative Campaigning; Assembly Votes To Give California Voters More Power In Presidential Elections; AIDS 25 Years Later; The Pentagon's Rise to Power
Westly, Angelides, and Negative Campaigning
Angelides and Westly head into the final days before Tuesday's election, their campaign ads are becoming more negative and vitriolic. Westly is running ads that cast aspersions on Angelides' past as an unscrupulous housing developer. Angelides is running an ad that accuses Westly of being the governor's "strongest ally" while the Republican governor was "cutting education, health care, and aid for the disabled." It closes with a quote implying that Westly in a Schwarzenegger clone. Larry Mantle talks about the impact of the ads on an ambivalent electorate with Tom Hollihan of USC's Annenberg School for Communication and John Hill of the Sacramento Bee.
Assembly Votes To Give California Voters More Power In Presidential Elections
Frustrated that presidential candidates have spent so little time in California, state lawmakers have approved legislation to change how the state awards its electoral votes for president. Backers of the bill say presidential candidates should be forced to campaign before all voters, not just those in so-called battleground states such as Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida. But critics say the change circumvents the U.S. Constitution, and that a popular vote election would send presidential candidates only to the most populous cities. Larry Mantle talks about the idea with Barry Fadem of the National Popular Vote campaign and California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.
AIDS 25 Years Later
June 5th marks the 25th anniversary of the official discovery of HIV/AIDS. Twenty-five years after federal health officials first recognized the disease that would become known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS no longer is synonymous with terminal illness in the United States. But the battle against AIDS is not over and a search for new treatments and even a vaccine continues. Larry Mantle talks with experts about the evolution of the epidemic and the future spread of the disease. Consummate HIV/AIDS immunologist Dr. Michael Gottlieb, Lee Klosinski of UCLA's Center for Community Health, and geneticist Paul Sharp of Nottingham University in England participate.
The Pentagon's Rise to Power
In his latest book, "House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power," National Book Award-winning author James Carroll traces the Pentagon's history and development as a powerful military institution. Larry Mantle talks with the author about the Pentagon's creation, operation, and the individuals past and present, who have shaped the institution's character.