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As Election Day nears, the candidates for Washington governor appear to be getting mellower, not feistier. Republican Rob McKenna and Democrat Jay Inslee met Thursday night in their fourth formal debate.

Perhaps the candidates are tired of each other or tired of hearing themselves speak -- or just plain tired. Whatever the case, it was a mellower Inslee and McKenna than at past debates. They re-plowed their positions on many hot topics like the budget, education, taxes and Medicaid expansion.

Who was the best US president? The worst? Biographer Robert Merry plays "rate the presidents" based on popularity and historical judgment. Here are some hints: Abraham Lincoln's at the top and James Buchanan ranks as one of the country's biggest failures.

Local record producer and writer Pat Thomas recently compiled a collection of music written by and for the Black Power movement,  "Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power 1965–1975." One of the musicians he discovered in putting the album together is a woman named Elaine Brown. She was the head of the Black Panther party during the mid '70s. Today, she's most well known for her activism for prisoners, but Pat thinks her music from the late '60s and early '70s has a message that still applies today.  He recommends listening to "Seize The Time," "The End of Silence" and "Until We're Free."

Travel guru Rick Steves has made his way into many a knapsack with his essential travel guides, but how did he first begin his travel business and what inspired that career? Ross Reynolds sits down with Rick Steves and goes beyond travel to hear his story.