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On election day, voters in many states will be asked to check several boxes on their ballots for state judges. Most people won't know much if anything about the candidates. And that's a problem, as NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports. Critics of the practice of electing judges say justice and politics are a dangerous mix. But the candidates say raising money and pleasing voters doesn't affect their objectivity.

This evening, NPR News will begin to feed unedited campaign messages produced by the Clinton and Dole campaigns to make use of the free air time offered by a number of television and radio outlest. In today's segment, we'll air segments by both President Clinton and challenger Bob Dole.

Susan talks with Weekend Edition sports commentator Ron Rapoport about baseball's World Series, which is scheduled to begin tonight (it has been postponed).

NPR's Vicky Que reports on the rise of drug use, particularly marijuana, among teenagers and how researchers are still deciding on the best method for curtailing it. One problem may be that baby boomer parents haven't been as concerned about marijuana use by teenagers as experts think they should be. Marijuana is also much cheaper and more readily available today, which makes it difficult for law enforcement to control.

V Critic DAVID BIANCULLI previews the new season of the X-Files and the new show Millenium.

on some Canadian and European companies that continue to do business in Cuba despite a U.S. embargo. Undersecretary of Commerce Stuart Eisenstat is in Europe, trying to win support from governments there for the U.S. policy. The sanctions were imposed after Cuba shot down two U.S. civilian aircraft piloted by Cuban exiles, off the coast of Cuba in February.

to withdraw a political television ad. It uses an excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King's, " >I Have a Dream" speech to argue against Proposition 2-0-9. Proposition 2-0-9 would abolish affirmative action programs in the state. Dr. King's family and estate say he supported affirmative action as a means of redressing past injustices.

NPR's MaryKay Magistad reports that the mother of Chinese dissident Wang Dan, a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests, says he will stand trial next week on charges of trying to overthrow the government. Wang is 26 years old and faces a minimum 10-year prison sentence if convicted.

Journalist and musician JAMES MCBRIDE. His recent book, is "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to his White Mother" (Riverhead) about his mother who was white and Jewish, but refused to admit her race. MCBRIDE's father was black. For years, MCBRIDE knew nothing about his mother's early life. It wasn't until he started work on the book, that she opened up to tell him that her father was a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi in rural Virginia, a racist, and he sexually abused her. MCBRIDE has written for "The Washington Post," "The Boston Globe," and "People" magazine

NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports on the new optimism of Bob Dole's campaign.