The Air Americans Blog

Live from Madison, Wisconsin, Lee Rayburn is back in the saddle for another week. 

Tonight's show: Lee Rayburn hosts from Madison, Wisconsin.  Lee will be hosting all week. 

Tonight’s Show

David Bender wraps up his week in the host chair

8:00 PM EST John Edwards’ right hand man Joe Trippi joins us to discuss last nights LGBT event

8:30 PM You heard him last night at the HRC/LOGO presidential forum.  Tonight, senator/presidential candidate/“straight” talker” Mike Gravel joins us on air to share his take on last night’s event.  Can we expect some jabs at the waffling front runners? 

9:00 PM Live from Sam Brownback headquarters in Iowa (!!!) Atlantic columnist Marc Ambinder tells us what we need to know about the upcoming GOP straw poll.

9:30 PM Central New York Representative Maurice Hinchey joins us to talk about his House Resolution to censure Bush, Cheney and Gonzales.   Senator Russ Feingold has introduced the same resolutions in the senate.  

10:00 PM David Bender takes your calls on medicinal marijuana and other topics

11:00 PM Sam Seder’s dispatches from Yearly Kos

Tune in next week for the return of Lee Rayburn

Tonight’s show:

David Bender hosts

8 PM EST David talks to legendary gay rights activist David Mixner. Check out his blog at davidmixner.com

8:30 PM EST assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute David A. Brown joins us to talk about QU’s new poll examining the influence that interest groups have on voters.

9-11:00 PM EST For the first time in electoral history, every candidate for the Democratic nomination will appear at a Presidential Forum focused on LGBT issues. The event is presented by the Human Rights Campaign and LOGO, the new lesbian & gay network from MTV Networks. We will carry the forum live and in its entirety. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, Melissa Etheridge and esteemed journalist Jonathan Capehart will appear as panelists at the event. Plus David Bender will provide additional commentary for Air America listeners. 

11:00 PM EST Senator Mike Gravel joins us to share his firsthand take on the presidential forum.

11:15 PM EST Eric Stern, senior advisor to the Edwards campaign with more firsthand commentary.

11:30 PM EST Executive producer and co-host of XM’s " The Agenda," Mary Breslauer wraps up our discussion of this historical event. 

Here are links to the Thom Hartmann's various projects that he discussed with David Bender.

Thom's collaboration with "Leo," the 11th hour, a new documentary, not about the fate of our planet, but about the fate of our species.  The 11th Hour describes the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how humanity has arrived at this moment; how we live, how we impact the earth's ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course.

Thom's forthcoming book, Cracking the Code.  Political persuasion is as much about biology as ideology, about knowing how the brain processes information and how that influences the way people perceive messages, make decisions, and form a worldview. 

And he's not Thom Hartmann, but we like him anyway.  He's Andy Boyer, creator of myelectionchoices.com.  How would you react to a Candidate's position if you didn't know who said it? With so many candidates and so many issues, how do you keep track of the people running for the President of the United States?  This site will help. 

David Bender hosts....

8:00 PM EST We'll catch the tail end of the AFL-CIO Democratic forum on MSNBC, moderated by Keith Olbermann. 

8:30 PM EST gonzo journalist Matt Taibbi joins us to disect the debate

9:15 PM EST David continues our discussion of campaign trail politics with Paul Waldman of Media Matters for America. 

10:15 PM EST New York City Congressman Jerry Nadler. 

11:00 PM EST former Maine governor Angus King talks about Unity '08, a group advocating a third party ticket in 2008.

11:30 PM EST Law & Order's Sam Waterston with more information on Unity '08