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New Hampshire's Health and Human Service Commissioner joins us in the studio. Stephen has been making waves as of late with his plans to overhaul the state's Medicaid program. The Legislative fiscal committee voted recently to approve preliminary talks with federal officials on his plan. We'll talk with Commissioner Stephen about his plan as well as his other goals for the state's largest department. Laura's guest is John Stephen, New Hampshire's Health and Human Service Commissioner.

In an age of rising health care costs, hope may prove one of the strongest medicines on the market today. We?ll look at the biology of hope?its connection to mind/body healing and whether it really can cure disease. Mike's guest is Dr. Jerome Groopman, Chief of Experimental Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Groopman is also a staff writer in medicine and biology for The New Yorker.

Wins from Democrats John Kerry and John Lynch put New Hampshire into the blue state category, making the Granite State look much more like its New England neighbors. But even as democrats are celebrating their victories, Republicans can point to a lot of red in the state. The State House and State Senate have Republican majorities and both of New Hampshire's U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators are from the GOP. We'll take a look at the Democratic and Republican parties in New Hampshire today, how they've changed in recent years, and where they might be headed. Laura's guests are Ray Buckley, Democratic State House Representative from Manchester, and Warren Henderson, former Republican State House Representative from Exeter.

The National Guard and the reserves have played a prominent role in the war in Iraq since the beginning and now make up more than 40% of the forces there. The recent attacks on Fallujah have claimed more reservist lives. We'll look at the role of the reserves and what that means for the future. Laura's guests are Bill Martel, Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, and Allan Stam, Professor of Government at Dartmouth College. Stam is also a former captain in the Army Reserves and former member of the Special Forces.

When hybrid cars, part gas, part electric, came out a few years ago they were touted as the next best thing. Environmentally friendly and worth tons in social capitol, the hybrid car was supposed to get unreal gas mileage. We'll look at the facts behind the claims and see how they really stack up. Laura's guests are Aaron Robinson, Technical Editor for Car and Driver Magazine and Gabriel Shenhar, Senior Auto Test Engineer and Special Publications Program Manager for Consumer Reports. We'll also hear from Dan McLeod, President of the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association.