Last night President Obama laid out his plan for Afghanistan.  The bottom line includes 30,000 more troops, deployed quickly and due to begin returning after 18 months.  We look at what the plan means for Afghanistan, and whether or not it will bring stability to the Afghans. 

We're joined by Clare Lockhart, co-founder of the Institute of State Effectiveness, who has served as an advisor to U.S. military officials.  She worked in Afghanistan on the post-2001 government.  We also speak with Michael Gordon, military correspondent for The New York Times.

• Washington Takeout: Todd Zwillich says now that President Obama has laid out his strategy for the war in Afghanistan, another war is beginning: the fight over how we're going to pay for it.
  
• Business Takeout: Louise Story of The New York Times looks at the hard line on debt some governors may take, and tells us what trade-offs that means for cash-strapped state budgets.
• Sports Takeout: Now that the Florida Highway Patrol has declared Tiger Woods' car accident a single-car accident worthy of a $164 ticket and 4 points, we ask Ibrahim Abdul-Matin how this will play out for golf's public image.

President Barack Obama's stimulus plan cut the price tag for COBRA, the federal program that allows workers to keep their healthcare benefits for 18 months after they leave a job. Under the bill, laid-off workers pay only 35% of the actual cost of COBRA benefits. That provision expires this month, meaning many unemployed workers will face suddenly higher healthcare premiums. We speak with Jody Dietel, chief compliance officer for WageWorks, a company that administers COBRA and other benefits programs. We also speak with Cheryl Fish-Parcham, deputy director of health policy at Families USA.

In Atlanta, a hotly contested mayoral race that was almost certainly partially about race drew to a too-close-to-call near-tie Tuesday night. Former state senator Kasim Reed, who is black, and city councilwoman Mary Norwood, who is white, tried not to make race a central focus of the campaign. But in a city where black mayors have been the norm since the 1970's and city residents often vote along racial lines, there was almost no escaping the hot-button issue. We talk to Rickey Bevington, an anchor with Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The holidays are upon us.  If your friends or family love food as much as we do, you might want to consider some really cool gift options that everyone will want to eat up.  Takeaway food contributor Kathy Gunst says there are plenty of reasonably priced kitchen gadgets and ways to spice up your friend's relationship to food, without breaking the bank this holiday season.

Click through to read Kathy's great gift ideas, and check out the recipe for her sister Andrea's Chocolate-Dipped Butter Crunch (which also makes a great homemade holiday gift!)

In a speech at West Point last night, President Obama announced he will send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan starting early next year.  He also discussed an exit strategy that he hopes to start in July, 2011. In a brief trip through the looking glass, it's the Republicans who (mostly) seem to have Obama's back this time and not the Democrats. Our Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, has reactions on Capitol Hill, from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), to President Obama's Afghanistan policy.  We're also joined by Michael Gerson, President George W. Bush's chief speech writer from 2000 to 2006 and now a senior research fellow at the Institute for Global Engagement.

• Business Takeout: Louise Story tells us how Harvard is trying to cut costs in a program bringing lawyers into public service, and why it might mean fewer law grads will help the needy.
• Sports Takeout: Ibrahim Abdul-Matin talks about the latest in the NBA, including the Phoenix Suns' reunion with their old coach, Mike D'Antoni, at Madison Square Garden.
• Listener Takeout: Listeners weigh in on the costs and profits in health care.

General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson has been asked to step down only eight months after taking the helm of the embattled automaker. The announcement came following a GM board meeting on Tuesday. For the past eight months Henderson and GM have been dogged by questions about whether a man who had spent the past 25 years of his career with GM was really the "change" that the company needs. Will Marcum is a GM line worker who says that Henderson's resignation will be bad for morale at the struggling company, but that many auto workers agree it is time for some new blood at the top. Micheline Maynard covers the auto industry for our partner, The New York Times and is the author of "The Selling of the American Economy: How Foreign Companies are Remaking the American Dream," She says the move came as "a shock, but not a surprise."

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has been convicted of one count of embezzlement. Dixon was found guilty of stealing around $630 worth of gift cards intended for needy families in Baltimore, then using the cards at stores like Target and Old Navy. Though the charge was only a misdemeanor, Dixon could be forced from office. We're joined by Marc Steiner, host of The Marc Steiner show on WEAA. He's a long-time Baltimore resident and he's been taking the pulse of a city that has, at times, been deeply divided over the mayor's trial.

Let the holiday shopping season begin! With the explosion of intangible mp3s, music may have lost its luster as a nice Christmas gift. But it looks like music might have a savior in the form of an old friend: good old reliable vinyl.  That's right, scratch-prone black platters are making a comeback.  But why has vinyl returned from certain extinction to a cool way to listen to music? Steven Hyden, staff writer for The Onion's AV Club and contributing writer to their new book, "Inventory," answers why.  And Will Welch, associate editor for GQ, give his ideas for holiday music gifts to consider - including box sets of AC/DC, Factory Records, Miles Davis, and more.