Guest: Takeaway Political Director Andrea Bernstein

Guest: James Politi, Financial Times reporter

Guest: New Orleans gospel and soul singer Jo "Cool" Davis

Guest: Todd Zwillich, Capitol News Connection

Guests: ESSENCE magazine senior editor Patrik Henry Bass and Takeaway Political Director Andrea Bernstein

Guest: Ben Calhoun, Chicago Public Radio

Guest: Sandy Rosenthal, founder of the New Orleans-based Levees.Org

Last week, The Takeaway spoke with New York Times columnist David Leonhardt about Barack Obama’s unorthodox fixes for economic woes. Leonhardt joins us today to talk about John McCain’s economic plans, which he says fall into two categories: McCain the Senator and McCain the Candidate. Leonhardt sees contradictions between the two and suggests that McCain's strategies could increase the deficit even more than Obama's.

When Katrina ripped through New Orleans, only a handful of restaurants survived the initial blow. Today 955 restaurants are up and thriving -- that's according to food critic and radio host Tom Fitzmorris' citywide restaurant count. Fitzmorris talks with The Takeaway about the city's enduring spirit.

Guest: Faith Salie

Guest: Elisabeth Bumiller, The New York Times