Produced by Brett Story

In three days of wrenching public testimony in Washington, DC, Iraq War veterans shared the horrors of war.

Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan sees her city of Gainesville, Florida, as one that needs to build up, not out. And with Florida's skyrocketing population growth -- the state's population is projected to grow from the current 18 million to 36 million by 2060 -- Florida will soon have to listen to Mayor Hanrahan and grow in more sustainable ways.

"The only hope for doing it [growing sustainably] in any sort of way that doesn't decimate the natural environment is to use our cities more effectively and to build more like a Boston or a Washington or a New York than an Orlando, quite frankly."

She points out that over 730 mayors have signed on to the Kyoto Protocol, showing that cities are on the frontline of climate change in spite of the federal government's refusal to act.

But sustainable cities aren't just good for the environment, says Hanrahan, they're good for the the people that live there. Quality public schools, comprehensive public transportation, and affordable housing options are vital to urban growth. However, as we build sustainable cities, we need to make them attractive not just environmentally but attractive culturally as well.

"I think the role of the city is to make the city such a wonderful place to live with access to wonderful restaurants and parks and sensible transportation alternatives and sublime arts experiences and so on that people really want to be in the city."

If you build it, they will come.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are paying lip service to "bread and butter" issues in the crucial state of Ohio. Whose message is resonating? Nation reporter JoAnn Wypijewski spent a week in Ohio talking to the state's blue-collar voters. Will the race turn on Iraq, NAFTA and healthcare, or on race and gender? See: www.thenation.com

Chris Hedges on Secular Fundamentalism.

Christian conservatives are predicting a looming catastrophe as birthrates fall in Europe. But writer Kathryn Joyce, author of Missing: The Right Babies in this week's Nation Magazine, argues that the campaign to promote Europe's "Demographic Winter" is really a xenophobic effort to confront rising Muslim populations, and to export the U.S. culture wars to a new battlefield.

In the wake of Super Tuesday, the Clinton/Obama faceoff is more confusing than ever. But an "X" factor could change the shape of the race: So-called "superdelegates," Democratic party insiders who are the free agents of the primary season. Could the delegates throw the convention into disarray?

The Nation political correspondent Ari Berman, expanding on his recent piece about the delegate race, breaks down who these "superdelegates" are, and what they mean to the Clinton/Obama race.

The Nation's Christopher Hayes explains why he thinks Barack Obama is the better choice to build a real progressive majority.

Sheila Dixon of Baltimore is the most recently elected Mayor we interviewed. But she already has her priorities straight -- tackling crime, guns and the flow of drugs into her inner city.

"I want to see one of the candidates come up with a comprehensive plan to eliminate the tide of drugs coming into our country," the Mayor told us. "I mean, we have wars here in our city. We should be making strides in that area, but its something I never hear [the presidential candidates] talk about."

She's right, of course. The '08 presidential race has distinctly eschewed issues of inner city violence and drug trade. Perhaps it's a blessing that we haven't had Willie Horton-style attack ads that demonize urban people of color; but we also haven't had any substantive talk about America's drug problem (the illegal one, not the prescription one).

Maybe not surprisingly, then, Mayor Dixon has yet to endorse a presidential candidate. "I've had a couple conversations with a couple candidates," said the Mayor, "and my first question is, What is your platform for urban issues? ... And then, what kind of commitment will they make for following up?"

For cities like Baltimore to not just get a lot more hot air, it's the latter question that matters. Good thing that Mayor Dixon is asking. Hopefully she gets a truthful answer.

(More interviews and your comments at MayorTV.com)