By: News Desk

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal is offering you the chance to join the panelists' table Thursday with an exclusive online live chat.

Gwen Ifill and Michael Duffy, executive editor for Time magazine, will be taking your questions in Washington Week's third monthly Vote 2012 live chat on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.

Duffy, this month's special guest, is a longtime Washington Week panelist and author of "The President's Club."

Submit your questions about the presidential election, politics and whatever else comes to mind for Ifill and Duffy in the chat below, on Washington Week's Facebook page or to Washington Week on Twitter. Tweet to @WashingtonWeek

By: William Harless

This week, the Golden Gate Bridge turns 75, and news outlets across the country, including the PBS NewsHour, are covering the anniversary. The first cars crossed the 1.7-mile bridge on May 27, 1937, when hundreds of thousands of people showed up for the opening-day celebration of what was hailed as the most elegant single-span suspension bridge in the world.

Thousands of San Franciscans are expected to visit the bridge again Sunday to celebrate the bridge's anniversary. Museums across the city are hosting special exhibits, family bike rides to the bridge have been organized and artwork has been commissioned.

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By: Spencer Michels

I've been driving over the Golden Gate Bridge all my life and nearly every day for the past 40 years. Often, the drive is exhilarating, especially when there are boats in San Francisco Bay. Sometimes, particularly on foggy mornings, it's routine. When I was a child, the toll was 25 cents. Today it's $6.

For its 75th birthday on Sunday, the bridge's management is planning a celebration that includes music, art shows, lectures, a new book and a new visitor center. But one thing won't happen: Nobody gets to cross the bridge on foot on the big day.

When the bridge opened in 1937, walkers were allowed to cross first. A day later, the bridge opened to cars. When the bridge turned 50, that routine was duplicated. Traffic was stopped and pedestrians were allowed to cross in the middle of the roadway. About 800,000 people tried to cross, and 300,000 actually stood on the deck at the same time. Their weight flattened out the bridge, which normally rises slightly in the middle. The roadway began swaying, and officials, already overwhelmed with people, tried to get the crowds off the bridge.

It took a while, but the bridge -- and all the people on it -- survived. But it could have been a disaster, so today's management decided not to tempt fate. Though the party won't be on the bridge, gridlock is expected as thousands will want to cross in celebration.

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By: Larisa Epatko

With this week's presidential election representing the end of the transition from a military to civilian government, many Egyptians will be watching not only the results but for a clean process as well.

Egyptians are voting in the first round of elections on Wednesday and Thursday for a number of reasons: the economy, security, and an end to military rule, said Erin Cunningham, GlobalPost's reporter in Cairo. But "the most crucial thing is people see Egypt moving forward [and] away from being ruled by a group of generals."

Overall, people are excited about the elections, she told us by phone. (Read her latest story on the lead-up to the elections.) "People are debating in the streets, there are posters everywhere.

"The last year and half has brought so many surprises for Egyptian politics," and people have resigned themselves to not being able to predict who will win or get the most votes in the first round, said Cunningham. "But they're really enthusiastic and I think more so than during the parliamentary elections, at least from what I'm seeing and hearing on the streets."

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By: Paul Solman

A Greek flag flies next to a statue of Socrates in Athens. IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Wednesday warned of the risk of "contamination" if Greece quits the euro and said the eurozone might therefore see the value of paying more to keep Greece in. Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images.

A pair of responses to my austerity/stimulus post of a few days ago illustrate the current conflict in economic ideology quite nicely.

tedmc writes on behalf of austerity:

"Doesn't the medicine of austerity arrive only after the binge? It is the 'binge' that puts the death spiral into action. Ie: group A gets [government benefits] provided by funds removed from group B -- and the promises that more is available...just vote for it. If you don't binge you don't wake up with a hangover. Now you have the hung over brother (ie: Greece) asking their more prudent brother (Germany) for just one more drink (stimulus) to get over the shakes. If they don't give them the money, Greece cries that Germany is cold hearted and evil. What is needed is tough love and the courage to say 'No. No more stimulus, No more free lunch. Nothing in life is free.'"

In contrast, consider the comment from Invisible Backhand, who defines his/her role as "Exposing Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux and Russ Roberts for all their Koch funded propaganda":

"Austerity is not about growth, it's about making the bondholders whole. The campaign to convince the little people it's to their benefit is just advertising funded by the rich and their paid lackeys."

Let me respond to "Invisible Backhand" first, if only because the moniker is so memorable.

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By: Christina Bellantoni

President Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base on Wednesday en route to Colorado Springs to deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images.

For the second day in a row, a new national poll gives President Obama a narrow lead over Mitt Romney despite apprehension among voters about the state of the economy.

The president holds a 47 percent to 43 percent advantage over the presumptive Republican nominee among registered voters in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey, with the margin just outside the poll's 3.4 percent sampling error.

Only a third of respondents said the economy would improve in the next year, down seven points from two months ago. Fifty-two percent said they disapproved of the president's handling of the economy.

Just a third of respondents also said they thought the country was moving in the right direction, compared with 58 percent who thought it was on the wrong track.

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By: News Desk

With newly minted college graduates entering the job market this spring -- or at least trying to -- there's a growing discussion and debate about the ever-rising costs of higher education, the spiraling burden of student debt and the value of college for all. In fact, some have argued that the traditional four-year college education might not be the right choice for some students.

Andrew Delbanco, author, cultural critic and professor of humanities at Columbia University, has a new book aimed at some of those very questions but looking at other values too, including intellectual, financial and cultural issues that universities are facing. It's called "College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be."

Jeffrey Brown spoke with him recently. Here's an extended version of their conversation:

By: Christina Bellantoni

In this week's Political Checklist, Political Editor Christina Bellantoni chatted with senior correspondents Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff about Bain Capital and President Obama's declaration that the election would be "about" Mitt Romney's record at the private equity firm.

Gwen pointed out that the Bain attacks fizzled out during the GOP primary in part because there wasn't a clear distinction in position. Now, the president is trying to portray himself as the guy who cares about the middle class, and suggesting Romney only cares about business.

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By: Larisa Epatko

Pakistan is experiencing a surge in many types of violence, and some of the women working to counteract it place some of the blame on the country's schools.

Naziha Ali, a journalist and documentary filmmaker in Karachi, Pakistan, said the violence in her home city has increased of late. (Read more about Karachi's challenges.) "The violence there is of all kinds: ethnic violence, sectarian violence, political violence," Ali said. "And I know there are many people who will not step out of their homes every day before checking the news because they don't know what is happening where."

Part of the problem stems from what children are taught in some schools, said Bushra Hyder, director of the Qadims Lumiere School and College in Peshawar in northern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan.

The students learn a misinterpretation of Islamic concepts, she said, and are taught derogatory things about other religions. "When they're only hearing about people from other religions in a negative way, they are becoming more intolerant [and] more aggressive towards the other groups and other religions," Hyder said.

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By: Paul Solman

Creative Commons photo by Flickr user Thomas Hawk.

Paul Solman frequently answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic news on his Making Sen$e page.

Tuesday's question comes from an in-house NewsHour staffer who wishes to remain "Anonymous," not to be confused with the author of "Primary Colors."

Question: If an emergency situation arises, does it ever make sense to pull money from a retirement fund such as a 401(k) rather than going into credit card debt to keep from going into the red? The fear of short-sightedness is paralyzing.

Paul Solman: As far as I can tell (and readers, please let me know if I'm missing something), the answer is: It absolutely makes sense. I can think of only one situation in which it wouldn't, sketched below. The important thing to know is that you don't "pull" money out of a 401(k). You borrow it, penalty free -- up to $50,000 or half the value of the account, whichever is lower.

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