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2: Film historian KEVIN BROWNLOW. Brownlow's best-known as the man who reconstructed the silent movie masterpiece "Napoleon." He also wrote a highly respected history of silent film , "The Parade's Gone By." His book, "Behind the Mask of Innocence," (Knopf, 1991) is an examination of how pre-World War One silent film makers addressed social issues of the day. He also collaborated (with David Gill) on the documentaries: The Unknown Chaplin, Buster Keaton--A Hard Act to Follow and D.W. Griffith--Father of Film. Their newest collaboration is "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood" which is showing on Turner Classic Movies this week. (Rebroadcast of 1/2/91 interview).

Linda Wertheimer and Noah Adams bring us excerpts of today's oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the contest of the presidential election results from Florida. For the second time in history, the court has released an audio tape of a session. Today's arguments by attorneys for George W. Bush and Al Gore lasted 90 minutes. We hear the voices of the justices asking questions, and the attorneys' responses. Robert A. Destro, Dean of the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America and Jeffrey Rosen, Associate Professor of Law at The George Washington University in Washington DC provide analysis.

Seven Americans have received the first presidential pardons granted by George W. Bush. Morning Edition host Bob Edwards talks with one of those pardoned, former postal worker Olgen Williams of Indianapolis, Ind. He served a year in prison more than 30 years ago for stealing $10.90 from the mail to support his drug habit. Williams says he's grateful for the pardon and has been making amends for decades by doing community service.

States with a small number of votes in the electoral college may play a larger part than usual in the upcoming election, thanks to the tight race for president. Today we're hearing about the political race in states that are often ignored in the big fall elections. Iowa has seven electoral votes. But it's a close race there, so the candidates have been paying visits. Democrat Al Gore, Republican George W. Bush and his running mate Dick Cheney have all been to the state in the last ten days. Linda talks to David Yepsin, Political Columnist with the Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa.

The legal match between lawyers for the two presidential candidates continued today in the Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, Florida. Vice President Gore is challenging the state's certification of Texas Governor George W. Bush as the winner of its crucial Electoral College votes. The next hearing on the issues in that case is scheduled for Saturday, but today both teams of lawyers were in a Leon County courtroom anyway, arguing over how many ballots ought to be brought from South Florida to Tallahassee for safekeeping and possible recounting. The judge sided with Bush attorneys who asked for a larger number of ballots to be brought up to the state capitol, not just the 14-thousand disputed ballots requested by the Gore legal team. NPR's Steve Inskeep has the news from the courthouse.

This evening in Tallahassee, Florida, Katherine Harris, the Florida Secretary of State announced that as of the 5pm deadline for counties to report their vote totals to the state, George W. Bush had a 300 vote lead over Al Gore in the presidential race. Harris said counties that are continuing to hand-count their ballots must offer their reasons for the continuing count by 2pm Eastern Time tomorrow. We hear some of Harris' comments. And Robert Siegel and Linda Wertheimer are joined by NPR's Tom Gjelten in Washington and David Welna in Florida to discuss this announcement. We also hear some of comments of Karen Hughes, Communications Director for the Bush campaign, in reaction to the news from Florida.

Two first time voters send us their perspectives on the post election situation. Paul Goldsmith, a young Republican chose to vote in Illinois, where he attends school, so that his vote for George W. Bush would carry more weight. Two weeks after the election, he finds himself inspired by the fact that the decision on who will become the next president is up to a handful of ballots. Belia Mayeno Choy is a born and bred Democrat. She worries that the situation in Florida will make people her age even more discouraged about voting. Rather than having every person's vote count, it seems more like the court or the state politicians will determine who won the election.

W.C. Fields called Bert Williams "the funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest I ever knew." Williams was an African-American vaudeville star in the early 1900s, and an influence on many future comedians. A small record company has released a collection of Bert Williams recordings. Elizabeth Yates McNamee reports.

Paul D. Miller, also known as DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, has taken his talents remixing sound and music for the club scene, and applied them to a new medium: film. He's been touring the world presenting a remix of D.W. Griffith's controversial 1915 film The Birth of a Nation as Rebirth of a Nation.

Fires have forced residents from their homes across the state. Photographers Bradley W. Parks and Jonathan Levinson have been covering the wildfires for NPR member station Oregon Public Broadcasting.