Topics and Guests for Thursday, Jan. 2

Veteran newscaster John Gibson gets to the core of the most salient issues facing America today as host of FNC's hard-hitting primetime show The Big Story with John Gibson, airing Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. ET, with expert legal analysis from Judge Andrew Napolitano and in-depth field reports from correspondent Heather Nauert.

Topics and Guests for Thursday,
Jan. 2

• Sen. John Edwards, a multimillionaire trial lawyer from North Carolina and relative newcomer to Washington, announced Thursday he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination, saying he wants to be "a champion for regular people."

Does Edwards have the right stuff to run for president? We'll investigate.

• South Korea rebuffed North Korea's overtures to jointly oppose the United States, telling the North on Thursday to stop saber-rattling and instead take a "forward-looking" step to ease the crisis over its nuclear programs.

How close is the peninsula to crisis? We'll ask Dr. Victor Cha, Georgetown University professor.

• Edwards is the third Democrat to throw his hat into the ring. The field will certainly become more crowded as the weeks progress. We'll handicap the declared and undeclared candidates with New Republic associate editor Michael Crowley .

• Plus, as damage awards go up, so does the cost of doing business, for doctors trying to protect themselves. Now more than two dozen West Virginia surgeons are walking away from the operating table for a month -- protesting the high cost of malpractice insurance. We'll be joined by one of those surgeons, Dr. Gary Parenteau.

Be sure to tune into The Big Story with John Gibson ...
weekdays at 5 p.m. ET.

Note: All guests and topics subject to change