Howard Fineman, 09/25/12

Editorial Director, Huffington Post Media Group

Why is Ohio so pivotal? Perhaps more than any other big state, Ohio sits at the center of the pinwheel of American geography and culture.

Marlo Thomas, 09/26/12

Award-winning actress, author, and activist

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Johnny Carson's departure from The Tonight Show, and many of today's top comedic stars were lucky enough to have launched their careers from the Carson springboard.

Evelyn Leopold, 09/26/12

Veteran journalist reporting from the United Nations

The presidents of Brazil and Argentina, both women, woke up any drowsy General Assembly delegate, passionately arguing their country's policy from economics to Syria to Cuba to Iran. But President Obama grabbed the attention, not because he broke new ground but because he is... well... Obama.

Christina Pesoli, 09/26/12

Writer, Founder "Emotional Hard Body Divorce Boot Camp"

There is one group of assets that is entirely left out of the formal divorce process: your friends. Because friends are a primary source of comfort and support, and further because there's nothing like a divorce to make you need heaping helpings of both, how this very valuable group of assets gets divvied up can have a big impact on how easily you bounce back.

Austin Dacey, 09/26/12

Author, 'The Future of Blasphemy: Speaking of the Sacred in an Age of Human Rights'

Those who study the history of blasphemy laws are condemned to repeat themselves: These laws don't work. Unless what you are after is more blasphemy.

Bill Moyers, 09/26/12

Managing Editor, Moyers & Company

This week, we report on the most influential corporate-funded political force most Americans have never heard of.

Robert Reich, 09/25/12

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Beyond Outrage'

Mitt Romney's failing isn't that he's a bad candidate. To the contrary, he's giving this GOP exactly what it wants in a candidate. And that's exactly the problem for Romney.

Danielle Wiener-Bronner, 09/26/12

Associate Blog Editor, The Huffington Post

While his exploits in the world of letters have been less well-documented, Mark Mothersbaugh's literary roots run deep, and he spoke to me about his obsessive writing habit, love of Pynchon and secret desire to accidentally run into Jonathan Safran Foer.

Tyler Wells Lynch, 09/26/12

Writer

I want to celebrate those with a knack for public speaking -- whether impromptu or rehearsed, citizen or politician, liberal or conservative. Here are the most passionate outbursts, rants, soapbox speeches, and celebrations of free speech during the Obama presidency.

Josh Sugarmann, 09/26/12

Executive director, Violence Policy Center

For the third year in a row, and for the fifth time in six years, Nevada ranked first in the nation in the rate of women killed by men according to the annual report When Men Murder Women.

Robert Shapiro, 09/26/12

Attorney; Author; Founder, LegalZoom.com and Shoedazzle.com

Last week, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a $300-million-plus award of attorney fees to plaintiffs' lawyers, which amounts to $35,000 an hour for their work on the case. Confused? It gets even crazier.

Amy MacPherson, 09/26/12

Social and Rights Advocate

You know them as MasoniChip, or perhaps you've been led to believe it was a state and provincial endeavor intended to protect your little ones. They set up fairs, forge partnerships with law enforcement and even strive to distribute their services through North American public school systems.

Richard Zombeck, 09/26/12

Founder, Home Preservation Network at hpnhelp.com

Scott Brown is running against Elizabeth Warren here in Massachusetts. They both agreed early on that the race would be about issues. That's a promise that Warren has kept, but that Brown seems to have forgotten as soon as he uncrossed his fingers behind his back.

Jaimie Etkin, 09/26/12

TV Editor, The Huffington Post

This installment of "The Voice" included a very mixed bag of performers: a 55-year-old bus driver, a former pop-punk frontwoman and a man who's been deemed the "Smog Technician Heartthrob."

Amanda Pullinger, 09/26/12

CEO of Pullinger Management LLC and Executive Director of 100 Women in Hedge Funds

I think that while all kids should of course have access to education which teaches them to read and to write, I also believe that what creates opportunity is that ability to think critically about a subject.

John R. Talbott, 09/26/12

Author, "Survival Investing: How to Prosper Amid Thieving Banks and Corrupt Governments"

If I were a Republican campaign strategist with lots of cash from wealthy, corporate and banking donors, I would wait until the last two weeks of the election cycle and then flood the airwaves with television commercials that tried to scare Americans on what a second Obama term might look like.

David Halperin, 09/26/12

Attorney, advocate, writer at RepublicReport.org

The Chronicle is allowing its advertiser to determine the composition of an event that the Chronicle is presenting as a program of its own. It's renting out its reputation. This Chronicle event is like an event on "Guarding The Henhouse," sponsored by The Fox.

Mike Lux, 09/26/12

Partner, Democracy Partners

The chances for the Democrats to retake the House are now a lot better than the conventional wisdom has it, and my view is that for the sake of Obama's second term the entire party needs to re-orient itself to that possibility.

David Fagin, 09/26/12

Writer, producer, musician

We're simply addicted. Apple has become the "Nino Brown" of the tech world. It's New Jack City -- this time, nationwide --and we're all lining up at 'The Carter' for a piece of the rock. Or, in this case, the Apple.

Elizabeth Zephyrine McDonough, 09/26/12

Writer, Filmmaker, Actress, Notary Public

When not busy making fun of French people speaking French, I'm devoting considerable energy to making fun of them speaking English. There is no question that this is entirely in an effort to make myself feel better about my own meager French skills, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining.

Rana Florida, 09/26/12

CEO, The Creative Class Group

Frank Toskan tends to shy away from the media and rarely boasts about his success, even though he was responsible for opening some 300 MAC Cosmetics stores worldwide in just 15 years. This is the first in-person interview he's granted in more than 15 years.

James Moore, 09/25/12

Best selling author, Director of Progress Texas PAC

If you are Jewish or Muslim or Hindu and pay taxes, why would you want to pay for buildings and public venues where Christians pray and you don't? Perry is no different than other Christian evangelicals and wants his belief system adopted by, not just all Americans, but the entire world.

Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, 09/25/12

Former governor of Michigan; Host, 'The War Room' on Current TV; columnist, Politico; faculty member, UC Berkeley

President Obama's basketball game makes me feel good about his foreign policy. What does basketball have to do with anything? Stay with me here.

Alec Baldwin, 09/24/12

Actor

America will never be great again under a Romney administration. It will be great for rich people, while everyone else will be asked to dial down their expectations of what it means to be an American, again.