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Senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that the lack of excitement in Sunday night's debate may have dissapointed some, but he applauds the return to civility--which may even bring the presidential campaign closer to discussing concrete issues.

, just three months after an armed insurrection broke out. Authorities were relieved that voting was peaceful. It's the first significant election in Mexico since major electoral reform went into effect.

The contest between veteran Republican Senator Larry Pressler and his Democratic challenger Rep. Tim Johnson features what most people would define as everything good and everything bad about politics today. The candidates present voters with clear cut ideological choices on issues from taxes...Pressler is solidly in favor of "smaller government"...to the Farm Bill (Senator Pressler is highly in favor of the changes that were made in the Farm Bill, while Rep. Johnson has been less enthusiastic). Both candidates have held serious issue debates, even as they lob harshly negative ads at one another. NPR's Brian Naylor traveled to South Dakota and filed this report.

including chocolate candies known as Frango mints.

Susan talks with UCLA professor of Soviet Studies Richard Anderson about the recent turmoil in Russia with Boris Yeltsin's sacking of his national security chief Alexander Lebed. (4:30) (outcue: (STAMBERG) "Richard Anderson is professor of Soviet Studies at UCLA."

Lobbies - NPR's Kathy Schalch reports that the environmental lobby is focusing its campaign contributions on about 12 Congressional races, in an effort to make for a more environment-friendly legislature after the November election.

have filed an application with the Treasury Department, registering their intention to accept a billion dollar grant from Libya. The government could attempt to block the transaction under the new anti-Terrorism law, which makes it a criminal act for a U.S. citizen to engage in financial dealings with any country on the State Department list of nations suspected of sponsoring terrorism. Libya is on that list. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam appear ready to challenge the law in court.

- Daniel visits 15-year-old Zak Forrest, who just won the grand prize in a nationwide American Film Institute contest with his two-and-a-half minute film called "Saturday." Zak shot the film himself and did all the editing on his computer. TV and movie actor Tim Allen was one of the judges in the contest...Danny talks with him about the film, and about the advances in technology that make filmmaking accessible to more people.

NPR's Martha RAddatz reports that the Pentagon has had to deal with delays in its attempts to identify the number of US soldiers that may have been exposed to chemical weapons during the Persian Gulf War. It seems that the computer model the government is using may need more work.

Neal speaks with Dr. Geoff Marcy of San Francisco State University about his discovery, which was announced this week, of a new planet.