Table of Contents

10 QUESTIONS: Curt Schilling on the World Series, the curse of the Bambino and beating the Yankees 8

LETTERS 9

NOTEBOOK

Pushing Clinton back on the campaign; an anti-immigration initiative in Arizona; saving a baby great white 21

IN THE ARENA: Joe Klein on the wins and spins of the first debate and how they'll affect the race 29

NATION

Wooing the Women As the race tightens, Bush and Kerry are each trying to convince crucial female voters that he's the man for them 30

Behind the Scenes Exclusive photos from backstage at the debate 36

TRUTH SQUAD: The facts behind what the candidates said 38

WORLD

Karzai's Campaign To become Afghanistan's first elected President, he must placate warlords and pacify the Taliban 40

BIN LADEN: How cold is the trail? 44

Urban Warfare An eyewitness account of the vicious battle to retake the city of Samarra 46

COVER STORY

WHAT'S NEXT

Meet a few brave people who make a living trying to predict the future 58

BUSINESS: The magic labs 68

GADGETS: Music in your glasses 74

VIEWPOINT: What's next is now! 80

MEDICINE: New drugs for '05 82

SPORTS: Seeking the next Shaq 83

DESIGN: MOMA reinvents art 86

STYLE: What's the new black? 88

ARTS: Next year's top movie, CD, musical, TV channel and book 90

SCIENCE

Withdrawal Pains Why Vioxx was yanked off pharmacy shelves 48

EXCERPT

Road to Wellness Don Barlett and Jim Steele's plan to fix the health-care crisis 50

ARTS

Richard Avedon An Appreciation 54

Born to Stump Bruce Springsteen leads a pro-Kerry tour 57

YOUR TIME

TECH: Habbo; how to go Ogo 99

HEALTH: Insomnia remedies; flu shots for kids 100

LIVING: Keeping weight off at college 103

PEOPLE: Hollywood goes brunet; William Shatner punks Iowa 105

ESSAY: Joel Stein on 75 years of New Yorker cartoons 106

COVER: Digital photomontage. Head: Rob Magiera--Getty Images