California is ablaze with more than 1,200 wildfires. The flames, touched off by lightning, are threatening the resort town of Big Sur. As the fires rage into their second week, Jason Kirchner, of the U.S. Forest Service in California, says this could be the largest number of concurrent fires in the state’s history.

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain travels to Columbia and Mexico this week... and many people are asking why. The Takeaway looks at what McCain hopes to achieve there and opportunities for the senator to make headlines.

Guest: Joe McCannon, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement

One hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection were presented at the Linnean Society of London. A year and a half later, Darwin published what is now a monumental work: "The Origin of the Species." The Takeaway looks at Darwin's legacy and the continuing debate surrounding evolution.

Democracy is messy business and few places illustrate that better than the polls. On November 2, 2004, director Katy Chevigny set out to capture a cross-section of American voters, in hopes of moving beyond the horse race and red-state–blue-state debates. “Election Day” focuses on 11 American stories and locales, where Chevigny’s team shot simultaneously from dawn into midnight. The director says the issues and problems she captured four years ago are even more relevant today. “Election Day” airs tonight on PBS on P.O.V.

Guest: Michael Bristow, BBC, in Beijing, China

Guest: Bill Wyman, Hitsville.org