The science of electoral prediction and the possible pitfalls of keeping one ear to the ground following the Dole and Clinton debates.

Vice-presidential responsibilities, the careers of Bob Dole, Dan Quayle and Jack Kemp, and the false predictions of Lord Kelvin, Albert Einstein and Arthur C Clarke.

The first presidential debate between President Clinton and Mr Dole, and the unique election advantage gifted to incumbent presidents, the presidential halo.

Boris Yeltsin's heart-bypass surgery and the cultures of secrecy that have surrounded the heath and governance of gravely ill leaders.

As O J Simpson's civil trial begins Alistair Cooke considers what can be gained from a civil suit and examines the differences in the way the new trial is being run.

The Defense of Marriage Act and the implications it has to same sex marriage, and news from Bob Dole's floundering presidential campaign.

The US cruise missile strike in Iraq, the claims that the first Gulf War was left unfinished and the complexities of the first conflict, as discussed by Alistair Cooke.

The Democratic Party convention returning to Chicago, the history of the city and the 'circus within a plague' of the last, disastrous conference of 1968.

The return of Ross Perot as a presidential candidate, the prohibition of third-trimester abortions, the proliferation of guns and the education of children about global warming.

The history of the party nomination conventions, the switch to the primary election as the method of choosing a presidential candidate, and Bill Clinton's lead in the polls.