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NPR's Anthony Brooks reports on the campaign trail of Vice President Al Gore and his running mate Senator Joseph Lieberman. Yesterday for the first time both candidates campaigned together and made stops in their home-towns. Today, Gore and Lieberman along with several Governors from southern states are campaigning in Atlanta.

Host Howard Berkes talks to Robert Blendon of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government about the accuracy and meaning of polls. Blendon says the farther away from an election, the less accurate the poll. He also says that respondents are reluctant to admit they won't vote for candidates from minority groups.

From Maine Public Radio Charlotte Renner reports on recent changes to Maine's campaign finance legislation.

NPR's Kenneth Walker reports on a new struggle between black and white South Africans over land both claim as their own.

NPR's Tovia Smith reports on the unique challenges that Joseph Lieberman's strict religious beliefs may present as his campaign for Vice-President kicks into gear.

Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan reviews the new documentary, The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Televangelist Tammy Faye Baker is the subject of the film.

Howard Berkes talks with naturalist Craig Childs, author of The Secret Knowledge of Water: The Essence of the American Desert. Childs documented his cross-country trek through the deserts of North America as he searched for water holes, small springs, and other signs of water. His quest took him to a place most experienced desert hikers avoid: directly in the path of a flash flood. (8:20) The Secret Knowledge of Water : Discovering the Essence of the American Desert by Craig Leland Childs is published by Sasquatch Books; ISBN: 15706

NPR's Scott Horsley reports on a commercial database that keeps track of millions of Americans who have bounced checks. More than 85-thousand bank branches subscribe to the database, called Chexsystem, and use it to screen potential customers. But critics say a single bad check can place someone's name on the database, and once listed, it's unlikely they'll be able to open an account for up to five years.

Host Howard Berkes talks to Historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, about her research into the countries of origin of African-Americans. While preparing her 1992 book, Africans in Colonial America, Hall discovered court documents that indicated where enslaved Africans said they came from. The information was overlooked for more than 200 years, largely because the documents were in French or Spanish. Hall's findings are of particular interest to African Americans who want to trace their ancestry.

From his childhood in Carthage, Tennessee and Washington D.C., Al Gore was raised not just to be a politician but to be a Democratic presidential candidate. Next week in Los Angeles, Al Gore will take the penultimate step toward fulfilling his lifelong goal when he becomes the Democratic Party's nominee for the White House. NPR's Anthony Brooks reports.