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French voters will elect their new president this Sunday, in a run-off between the two winners of the first round, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and socialist Segolene Royal. Both have been fighting for the center-ground of French politics. Most independent pollsters say they lean toward Royal, but Sarkozy is still ahead in the polls.

The Daily Beast is enjoying some success with an unusual pairing of reporters at the White House. Asawin Suebsaeng came from Mother Jones and Lachlan Markay wrote for a series of conservative publications before joining the publication. Editor-in-chief John Avlon says he thinks the pairing is helping their coverage stand out.

Just days after rejecting an invitation to make a brief video appearance at the Republican convention, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan today refused to endorse the man who beat him for the nomination, Bob Dole. Buchanan set out conditions the party will have to meet to keep him on board. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

Conservative businessman Al Salvi stunned the state's Republican establishment when he beat the Lt. Governor in the primary. In a state with a history of electing moderate Republicans, Salvi's upset appears to complicate GOP plans to capture the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Paul Simon. NPR's Cheryl Corley has the story.

Noah speaks with NPR's political correspondent Elizabeth Arnold, who has been been traveling with the Dole campaign. After his disappointing second place finish in New Hampshire Tuesday, Arnold says Dole will have to get tough to stop conservative rival Pat Buchanan from embarrassing him in upcoming primaries.

Daniel speaks with NPR's Elizabeth Arnold about what Bob Dole stands for and how his stand on issues has changed throughout his career. Arnold says that Dole has always been a fiscal conservative but that beyond that issue, he sees his role more as an effective legislature than as a political visionary.

All Things Considered reported Tuesday that Ford pulled ads for some of its cars from gay magazines at the same time a conservative Christian group called off its threatened boycott of Ford. The show takes a brief look at recent boycotts -- from political to commercial -- and what makes them successful or not.

Now that the Senate has passed the economic bailout plan, the bill has to go back before the House. But the bill carries many more tax cuts that conservative Democrats may have a hard time passing. Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chair of the Democratic caucus, says the momentum is moving from "no" to "yes."

Mexicans go to the polls Sunday to elect a new president. The vote will determine whether Mexico joins the region's leftward trend, or deepens free-market reforms and its already close alliance with the United States. Polls have shown the race will be close between leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon.

In politics it's usually conservatives who attack liberals for being soft on crime. Those roles seemed at least partially reversed today at the Supreme Court, where justices heard an important case examining whether police need a search warrant to get cell phone site location information from wireless carriers.

Commentator Joe Loconte says President Bush has sparked a national conversation about religion in America. Mr. Bush's proposals to make government more friendly to religion has shocked the political system. Conseratives and liberals are both being challenged to examine how their beliefs match their actions. With bipartisan support for expanding the role of religion, Loconte says it would be foolhardy not to try Bush's route.

Fallout continues from the indefinite postponement of a hearing on House Speaker Newt Gingrich's violations of ethics standards. A Democratic member of the ethics panel has called the announcement a "Thursday Night Massacre," and the casualties are bipartisan consensus and ethics process. Meanwhile, Republicans are calling for a criminal investigation into tape recordings of a cellular phone conversation in which Gingrich is heard discussing plans to manage the public disclosure of the charges against him, an apparent violation of a promise to the committee. NPR's Brian Naylor has a report.

NPR's Liane Hansen chats with singer and songwriter Vienna Teng, who performs songs from her second CD, Warm Strangers. Since their first conversation in 2002 about her debut CD, Teng has toured the country, enjoying a bit of fame and recognition for her talent. She has no regrets about leaving her computer engineering job to pursue music.

For many of his fans, Bob James is to jazz what James Brown is to R&B — the music and the musician go hand in hand. Now, with literally dozens of jazz albums under his belt, James is back with a classic piano-bass-drums trio. Hear full-length cuts from his latest CD, plus an extended version of his conversation with NPR's Tavis Smiley.

Marin Alsop says she can't remember the first time she met composer Jennifer Higdon, and both simply believe they've always known each other. Oddly, the two women have never had a conversation about gender in the classical-music world — that is, until now. Higdon's Violin Concerto is set to be performed by Hilary Hahn next month.

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., is a key conservative in the Senate immigration debate. He is among a group of lawmakers who want to see changes to the nation's legal, family-based immigration rules and the diversity visa lottery program. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Perdue about his priorities as the immigration debate continues this week.

Political observers divided America into red and blue states for the 2004 election. But a new study fine-tunes political groups into more specific categories, including "pro-government conservatives," "disadvantaged Democrats" and "bystanders." Robert Siegel talks to Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press about the center's latest political typography.

A letter leaked by a veteran Vatican analyst known to be critical of the Francis papacy, has thrown the synod on the family into turmoil and confusion. Allegedly signed by 13 conservative cardinals, the letter complained to the pope that the assembly has been stacked against them. Within hours of the letter's publication Monday, four of the cardinals said they never signed the letter.

A new paper in the journal Science reports that families tend to grow and prosper when they're led by big old females who can hear trouble coming when it's still miles away. We're talking about elephants, of course. NPR's John Nielsen has more on a study with important conservation implications.

NPR's Debbie Elliot reports that conservatives are upset over the courtmartial and discharge of Army medic Michael New for refusing to wear a UN patch or blue cap while on a UN peacekeeping mission in Macedonia. New has become a hero to those opposed to the UN because they fear the United States is ceding national sovereignty to a one-world body.