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Mexico's top prosecutor says it a mayor and his wife ordered the attack on 43 students who have been missing for nearly a month. The couple — of the town of Iguala in the southern state of Guerrero — are now fugitives.

Thousands of protesters marched down Mexico City's grand Reforma Boulevard Wednesday night, banging drums, carrying pictures of the 43 students who went missing on Sept. 26 and demanding the resignation of the governor of the state of Guerrero and even of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Holding a poster-sized black-and-white photo of her missing 19-year-old son, Benjamin, Cristina Bautista says she believes the students are still alive.

"I don't know how they are going to do it," she says, staring off in the distance, "but they took the students alive and they have to return them to us alive."

Bautista says her son had just started at the rural teaching college, known for its leftist ideology and radical protests. She says he just wanted to study to be a teacher and get a good paying job, something not possible in the poor regions of Guerrero where they live.

The missing student's uncle, Cruz Bautista, wants to know why it has taken so long for the government to find his nephew or those responsible for his disappearance.

"They need to do their job," he says. "Why haven't they arrested the mayor of Iguala yet or his wife?"

Wednesday, Mexico's attorney general said an arrest warrant has been issued for Mayor Jose Luis Abarca and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda.

Jesus Murillo Karam, the country's top prosecutor, also named the mayor's wife as the "principal operator" of the trafficking group known as the Guerreros Unidos, and that she together with her husband ran the group's illegal activities right out of Iguala's City Hall.

Murillo Karam went on to give more details — the most he has divulged to date on the case, including that the mayor was doling out as much as 600,000 pesos (about $45,000) on a regular basis to pay off the police.

Murillo Karam went on to say that on the night of Sept. 26, as the students were heading toward Iguala in several buses they had commandeered, the order to stop them came over the local police radios. And that is was given by "A-5," the code name for Iguala's mayor.

Local police intercepted the student's buses and started shooting, killing six people and rounding up the 43 students. According to the attorney general, the students were taken to another police force and then transported to the outskirts of Iguala. Those orders, he said, came from the head of the Guerreros Unidos, who federal authorities captured last week.

Attorney General Murillo Karam says investigators are still trying to positively identify the remains of some 30 bodies found in nine graves outside Iguala.

In the town Wednesday, angry protesters — many hooded — smashed windows and burned several offices at City Hall.

In Mexico City, students marched for hours, demanding justice and revenge.

Maria Fernanda Solis, an 18 year old college student, says it's just outrageous how much corruption, collusion and impunity there is in Mexico.

"The government and the traffickers are one and the same," she says. "We have to stop it."

Many students dressed in black, like those from the music school at the National Autonomous University, asked: If the government kills students, what is left for the future of Mexico?

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When social norms change, sometimes they change so fast it's hard to keep up.

Only 10 years ago, ballot initiatives opposing gay marriage were helping Republicans win elections. But two weeks ago, when the Supreme Court effectively cleared the way for legal same-sex marriage, the response from Republican leaders was deafening silence.

In Red States, Many See Courts Eroding Their Values Dec. 23, 2004

They were so quiet, some wondered whether the culture wars had finally ended with a Republican defeat.

Gary Bauer, a longtime social conservative activist, thinks that's nonsense.

"The idea that the culture wars are over is absurd," he says. "A war over the culture and the meaning of American liberty will continue to be a major factor in the American public debate."

Other social conservative leaders agree with Bauer. Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said if the Republicans don't fight against gay marriage, he'll become an independent. Sen. Ted Cruz promised to introduce a constitutional amendment allowing states to ban gay marriage.

But those views are in the minority. While polls show opinion on some social issues, like abortion, are relatively stable, public opinion on gay marriage has changed — and changed fast.

Democratic Party Embraces 'Values' Debate Oct. 19, 2006

A majority of Americans now accept gay marriage, says Peter Levine, a political scientist at Tufts University. He calls that "a profound generational change."

"In the long run, everyone's going to be for gay marriage," he says, "but in the short term, Republicans have a problem, which translates into a problem of perceived intolerance."

Conservative views on social issues, including gay marriage, are often called the third leg of the Republican stool, alongside small government and strong defense. So the party will have to adapt without alienating an important part of its voting coalition, says Ari Fleischer, who was a press secretary in the Bush White House.

"For Republicans, the challenge is if they take the issue uniquely as gay marriage head-on, many Republicans aren't going to want to change, who are older voters," Fleischer says. "Younger Republicans are willing to change on that issue — they already have changed."

The problem for the GOP is that right now there aren't enough young Republicans. Young people vote overwhelmingly for Democrats in national elections, and social issues are one of the main reasons.

Calling For An End To The Culture Wars Feb. 3, 2009

Kirsten Kukowski is the press secretary for the Republican National Committee, which is trying to help Republican candidates bridge the gap between the party's base and changing public attitudes.

"For a long time we came across as maybe not as sensitive and not as compassionate on these issues," she says. "And I think a couple of years ago — right after the 2010 presidential election — for people in the RNC specifically, our strategists, a lot of our pollsters and a lot of the people around us in these campaigns, we sat down at the table and said, 'How do we change how we talk to voters?' "

Republicans are already changing. This year, most Republican candidates in tight races barely mention social issues on the stump. Others have moved to the center, disavowing their previous support for "personhood" amendments, which would give constitutional rights to embryos. A handful of Republican Senate candidates have joined Planned Parenthood in supporting the idea of over-the-counter birth control.

In addition to RNC operatives, conservative intellectuals are also grappling with this problem.

"There's a group of us who are basically conservative but think that mainstream conservatism needs to rethink some of its strategic approaches and policy emphases," says Henry Olsen of the Ethics & Public Policy Center. "And we've been called reformicons, and we're fine with that."

Olsen and his fellow reformicons say social issues like gay marriage have to be navigated carefully — very carefully.

Evangelicals' New Chief Says Days Of Moral Majority Over Aug. 30, 2013

"No Republican candidate can be nominated that openly supports same-sex marriage. That doesn't mean that you need to talk about it in a way that implies disapproval or condemnation of gay and lesbian people. It certainly does not mean that you have to deny certain sorts of federal benefits that presumably could be extended to people without the formal extension of marriage," he says. "That sort of thing is the rhetoric of compassion and inclusion that a Republican candidate to win the presidency ought to pursue."

Gay marriage is where opinion is changing the fastest, but the public is also evolving on other issues, like immigration and climate change. The RNC's Kirsten Kukowski says the party will debate all of this in the 2016 primary campaign.

"We're going to have a very interesting conversation in the next couple of months," she says. "And having been here through the last presidential [election] and then through the midterms, this is going to be a very important conversation for Americans to have, and for us to have as a party."

It's clear where the public is going on issues like gay marriage — but not so clear where the Republican Party will end up.

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This election season is proving to be tough for Democrats, but many believe they can turn the red state of Georgia blue with the help of new voters.

One voter registration campaign led by the New Georgia Project, a "nonpartisan effort" according to its website, has targeted black, Latino and Asian-American residents.

The organization's parent group, Third Sector Development, is currently engaged in a legal battle with election officials over more than 40,000 voter registration applications that, the group says, are missing from Georgia's voter logs. This month, that organization, along with the NAACP and other civil rights groups, filed a lawsuit against five counties and Georgia's Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who oversees elections in the state.

"These are voters who deserve to have their voices heard," says Stacey Abrams, founder of the New Georgia Project. "This is a critical election — an election that will not only speak to what happens in the state of Georgia this cycle but ... speaks to the future of the Georgia that we want to have."

The issue has been resolved in Georgia's DeKalb County, located outside Atlanta. But four other counties, including Fulton, Chatham, Muscogee and Clayton, still face the lawsuit.

A Call For Transparency

Abrams, a Democrat who serves as Georgia's House minority leader, says it's unclear whether the 40,000 applications in question have been processed, based on the state's public lists of registered voters.

"The reality may be that the voters are in the process, and they will appear on the rolls. But we don't know," she says. "This is about information. It's about transparency."

The Georgia secretary of state's office did not respond to requests for comment by deadline, but during a press conference on Oct. 16, Kemp said the lawsuit is "totally without merit."

"The claim that there are over 40,000 unprocessed voter registration applications is absolutely false," he said. "The counties have processed all the voter registration applications that they have received for the general election."

In September, Kemp launched an investigation into the New Georgia Project's voter registration campaign after forged and other invalid applications were submitted to county offices. The New Georgia Project says it is legally required to submit all voter registration applications it collects — even invalid ones.

Resolution In DeKalb County

Earlier this week, DeKalb County was released from the lawsuit after confirming that the county had processed all of its applications. Maxine Daniels, director of voter registration and elections in DeKalb County, says she was upset by the lawsuit's allegations.

"We understand that what we do is the very basis for our democracy, and so we take it very seriously," she explains. "For someone to say that we're not doing it, it's just very disconcerting."

Daniels says the lawsuit may come down to failures in communication between the New Georgia Project and county election offices. She says she wishes the group had reached out to her office about missing applications earlier in the process. But Daniels still supports outreach to new voters.

"Let's not throw out the baby with the bath water," she says. "We have to keep in mind that there still were some 7,000 voters that as a result of their project got registered [in DeKalb County]. And so we applaud that effort."

NPR contacted the four other counties named in the lawsuit. All asserted that they currently have no unprocessed applications. A hearing about the case is set to take place in Atlanta on Friday.

There's a woman running in the tight race for the Senate in Iowa — one of the contests that will decide who controls the Senate next year. In the 21st century, a female candidate for Senate may not sound historic. But in Iowa, it is.

The state shares a rare distinction with Mississippi: It has never elected a woman to the Senate, to the House, or to be governor.

Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst is trying to change that in her race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley — a race in which the role of female voters is central.

The gender gap has been around for decades. Republicans typically do well with men, Democrats with women.

And among women who vote, those who are not married are still more likely to vote for Democrats. Young singles, divorcees and widows are all prime Democratic constituencies.

Democrats say they appeal to women on both economic and social grounds. Women, they say, would benefit more from a higher minimum wage and other pocketbook issues. And, they say, women are concerned about reproductive rights.

Democrats accuse Republicans of waging a war on women.

Professor Rachel Paine Caufield, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines, says Republicans have been responding to that charge and gaining ground.

"They've identified this problem. And they know that need to appeal to women. ... Part of that is fielding more women candidates. Part of that is reframing some of their messages to women voters," she says.

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Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley speaks to fairgoers at the Iowa State Fair. While polls show Braley with a sizable lead among women, he trails among men by an even wider margin. Charlie Neibergall/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Charlie Neibergall/AP

Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley speaks to fairgoers at the Iowa State Fair. While polls show Braley with a sizable lead among women, he trails among men by an even wider margin.

Charlie Neibergall/AP

In Iowa, polls show Braley running as many as 14 points ahead of Ernst among women.

But he's trailing Ernst by even more than that margin among men.

So the Democrats need women to turn out and vote.

The week before last, Braley got a visit from a very high profile Democratic woman: Michelle Obama.

For a candidate who is said to have a tough time introducing himself to Iowa voters, it didn't help that the first lady several times got his name wrong.

"You can request a ballot by mail, right here, at this event or you can go to vote dot Bruce Bailey dot com. That's vote dot Bruce Bailey dot com. Or even better, you can ..." she started, eliciting shouts from the audience. "Braley? What did I say? I'm losing it. I'm getting old."

Ernst, who's an officer in the Iowa Army National Guard, presents herself as a mother, soldier, leader. She has made a strong introduction with the voters, largely through her commercials.

In an ad titled "Squeal" she narrates: "My parents taught us to live within our means. It's time to force Washington to do the same." She also invokes the common experience she shared with other Iowa farm kids, castrating hogs. She'll come to Washington and cut pork. "Let's make 'em squeal," the ad ends.

Then came a commercial showing Ernst riding a motorcycle to a shooting range and firing a pistol she carries in her purse.

"Joni Ernst will take aim at wasteful spending, and once she sets her sights on Obamacare, Joni's gonna unload," the narrator says.

Drake's Caufield says those images are relaying a central message: "I'm from a man's world."

"This is something, particularly in a time in foreign policy, women candidates tend to have a harder time appealing to voters on foreign policy issues," says Caufield. "I don't think Joni Ernst has had any problem on that. I don't think there's any question that she has presented herself to voters as someone who is tough, and capable, and willing to fight every bit as hard as any male would be."

How is it playing with women?

Last week, we invited six Iowa women, from across the political spectrum, to watch the third and final Braley-Ernst televised debate with us.

In that debate, there was much talk about the Personhood Amendment to the Iowa Constitution that Ernst sponsored as a state senator. Would declaring a fertilized egg to be a person ban all abortions, some contraceptives and in vitro fertilization?

Braley cited the concerns of OB-GYNs that it would do all those things.

Ernst said she's pro-life. She could support abortion to save the life of a mother. She said she supports access to contraception and she has no objection to in vitro, which entails disposing of excess fertilized eggs.

In the debate, Ernst also spoke of going to Washington to fix a dysfunctional government.

Braley said that all of her solutions scrap things: the Department of Education, federal student loans, the Environmental Protection Agency, the federal minimum wage.

When each was asked to say something admirable about the other, Braley said this about Ernst, who was deployed in the Iraq War:

"Well, I admire the fact that Sen. Ernst has served our nation and our state and the Iowa National Guard. I think it's a terrific attribute. My father was a Word War II combat veteran, and I have great respect for Sen. Ernst for serving our country."

Ernst's answer:

"And I think Congressman Braley is a great father."

The reaction from our group: "Oh, God." Most found that line to be condescending.

It turned out that our six viewers all thought Braley did better.

Loretta Sieman — a former Des Moines councilwoman and registered Republican — sounded disappointed that she couldn't be enthusiastic about the female candidate. Ernst struck her as too negative.

"At the end, he just talked about what he was going to do. She talked about what he didn't do. And that drives me crazy," she said. "As a woman, we know that we have never had a woman from Iowa so we're supposed to be involved for that. As a past councilperson, I want the right person and I don't care if they wear a skirt or pants."

Brittany Gaura, a sophomore at Iowa State, is a Young Republican; she hopes to be a veterinarian. I asked about the importance of electing a woman to the Senate: "To me, it's important to have a woman, I think, in the Senate, and from Iowa. I think a lot of women in Iowa have a lot to bring to the table — but it's not important to me right now if she's not the right woman."

Her fellow conservative in the group, businesswoman Karen Novak, agreed. "I'm looking at who's the most qualified individual. I don't care if they wear pants or a skirt, it makes no difference. I would absolutely love to get a woman in office, but only if she's the right one and she has the right qualifications," she said.

Those two Iowa women had described themselves as leaning toward Ernst before the debate. Afterward, they were leaning a little less in that direction.

The same was true for Angela Ten Clay, who works at an ad agency. "Braley was very articulate and answered things really well and gave more meat and depth to his conversation. And whether I agreed with it or not, when someone is concise and clear and strong in what they believe that's really what I look for. That they stand up for something, and they back it and they don't change their opinion," she says.

I asked our group of Iowa women what they made of the references in the debate to motherhood. Ernst describes herself as a mother first.

We had two decided Braley voters in the group. Pat Schneider said Ernst's description of herself didn't impress her. "When she talks about she's a mother, she's a soldier ... it's like, OK, but that could be anybody. I mean that to me doesn't qualify you to run for Congress. Although I do think if we had more women in Congress, I think we could probably get a lot more done because women are used to compromising, and working together. I mean, we have to do it every day with our kids, our workforce," she said. "In that respect, it would be great, but I don't think Joni Ernst is the right woman."

Nicole Peckumn, who also supports Braley, is not a mother. And as she said, female voters are a more mixed lot than just moms.

"To me, it's really about the quality of the candidate, and not necessarily about gender. Do I want to still be tied with Mississippi for not having a woman go to D.C.? Absolutely no and I think that this will be the year that either in the congressional or Senate race we'll do it," Peckumn said.

"Being a mother is wonderful, but there are a lot of people in our society who have opted to not have that be a part of their plan. So I think when you're talking about the big scope of America, you have to also look at people who are not like you. Someday I want to be a mom. ... But it doesn't really generate a big emotional connection with me or some of my friends who are moms."

Here's something that all six women agreed on. And both Senate candidates in the debate said they agreed on. And both state party chairmen whom I interviewed last week in Des Moines said they agreed on: Everyone hates the nonstop, bumper-to-bumper airing of campaign commercials, typically bashing one candidate or the other. Commercials from campaigns, national party committees, outside groups. The revulsion is as universal as it is, apparently, ineffectual.

As in many states, early voting is well underway Iowa, so every day is Election Day.

And as soon as last week's televised debate ended, the commercials resumed.