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Third Party Candidates will be all dressed up in "Fringe" with nowhere to go this Thursday at 9 pm. While George Bush and John Kerry challenge one another's ideas on national television during the first Presidential debate, wallflowers Michael Badnarik, David Cobb, Michael Peroutka, and Ralph Nader will have to sit quietly on the sidelines. The truth is, they do not enjoy the same amount of support as the two major candidates, and therefore, are probably not viable candidates for the Presidency. But third party candidates do play a role in the democratic process. Democrats still hold Nader responsible for swaying the 2000 election and have fought hard to keep him off the dance floor in 2004.

Darren Garnick is a film maker from Amherst. With Newport native, Peter Koziell, David put together his third film about so called Fringe Candidates. Crashing the Parties premiers Thursday night on WGBH at 8pm, just before the debate. You can also catch it next Friday on NHPTV at 8pm.

Few election issues hit closer to home than healthcare... And while new and improved health care plans have been touted for years, not much real progress has been made. President Bush promises to modernize the healthcare system. Senator Kerry wants to expand the current system. In New Hampshire, Republicans and Democrats are divided over how best to offer more coverage while at the same time, lower costs. We'll look at the issue of healthcare, who's saying what and not saying what and how this issue might play out in this year's elections. Laura's guests are Jon Greenberg, Executive Editor for NHPR; Ed Howard, Executive Vice-President of the Alliance for Healthcare Reform , a non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C.; and Andy Smith, professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire and director of the UNH Survey Center.

Developments on several election fronts.

New Hampshire has a national reputation for retail politics. Voters expect the essence of a campaign to be a candidate personally asking citizens for their votes.

Statewide elections, to be sure, have for years employed consultants and pollsters and advertising professionals. But this election, in increasing numbers, candidates for state Senate races are turning to paid political consultants.

New Hampshire Public Radio correspondent John Milne has more:

For the next six weeks we'll be dedicating our Tuesday broadcasts to the major issues that might make or break this election from Foreign policy to education to social issues. We commence this series with a look at the candidates for President and state offices and the Economy. It still ranks as the number one issue for voters nationwide. In the Presidential race the lines are deeply divided yet in New Hampshire with higher national average median incomes and lower national than average unemployment, the issue might be a tougher sell for a contender. We look at jobs, the economy, the platforms and how they might play out in this year's elections. Laura's guests are Dean Spiliotes, a research fellow for the Department of Politics at St Anselm College and author of "Vicious Cycle: Presidential Decision Making in the American Political Economy", Ross Gittell, Professor of Management at The University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics and Andy Smith, Professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire and director of the UNH Survey Center.