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Host Liane Hansen speaks with Martin Cruz Smith. The author of Havana Bay and Gorky Park now has a new novel of international intrigue, called December 6 (Simon & Shuster, ISBN 0-684-87253-6), set on the brink of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941.

Voters in Turkey head to the polls to elect a new parliament. Surveys predict a major shakeup, including the ascendancy of a moderate Islamic party that critics say could threaten the country's secular government. NPR's Ivan Watson reports.

Essayist Andy Borowitz waxes nostalgic over the re-emergence of former Vice President Walter Mondale in this year's election. Mondale is running for the Senate seat in Minnesota, following the death of Paul Wellstone.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on the Republican Party's continued wooing of Latino voters, following George W. Bush's strong showing in the Presidential elections two years ago.

"Eighty-two years after women got the right to vote," observes essayist Diane Roberts, "it's not remarkable to see women asking for votes." But, she says, we often respond as though it is unusual, and that limits our perspective on women as political candidates.

Efforts by the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood to secede from Los Angeles lose steam, thanks in part to Mayor James Hahn's $5 million anti-secession campaign. Voters will decide the matter in Tuesday's election.

Puzzle master Will Shortz quizzes one of our listeners, and has a challenge for everyone at home. (This week's winner is Charlotte Graham from Spring Hill, Fla. She listens to Weekend Edition on member station WUSF at the University of South Florida in Tampa.)

NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr comments on how relations between the U.S. and Germany remain strained, long after the September German election when two aides of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made hash remarks about President Bush.

NPR's Athena Desai reports on up-and-comers OK Go, who are charging out of the Chicago scene and touring the country with their unique brand of power pop-rock. Radio host Ira Glass says the group is "like a boy band that got seduced by Queen and wound up in college instead of Orlando." They recall the melodic greats of the '70s and '80s, and provoke thoughts about the state of rock and roll today.

Jackson Braider of member station WGBH in Boston examines the use of music in political campaigns past and present.