The race for the White House

As a self-confessed American politics geek, an obsession honed by hours spent watching West Wing, November 4th offers endless excitement for me.

For those not quite as consumed by the upcoming election and all its salacious details, that is the day we get a new world leader. Ahem. I mean a new American president.

Will it be Obama the revolutionary, he of the inspired speeches and world-changing appeal, or will it be McCain, he of the oven chips strong foreign policy credentials, honed by his prisoner of war experience.

And lets not forget those waiting in the wings if the president should pop his clogs - a likely thing since 14 VPs have become commander in chief and McCain is daily gets nearer to popping his clogs every day.

Will gun-toting, moose-slaying Desperate Housewife Sarah Palin be the first women elected into the Oval Office?

Exciting, you'll agree. But to help you sift through all the coverage, here is a blaggers guide to news about Election 2008.

For the headlines

To check the latest stories without having to dedicate too much time, look no further than News.Google.com.

If you're a gmail member, then you can even customize your homepage to feed you the latest sleaze, scandal and corruption.

For good hard facts

To get to grips with concrete facts of it all - who said what, when, to who and what the reaction was - any of the major news organizations are good, but CNN.com always seems to have the latest first.

Will gun-toting, moose-slaying Desperate Housewife Sarah Palin be the first woman elected into the Oval Office?

Jennifer Lipman

For commentary

With such a heated contest ahead, everyone wants to throw their two cents in.

For snappy and well-observed op-eds, click on to HuffingtonPost.com, a solidly liberal online newspaper.

No candidate is safe from the biting tongue of Arianna Huffington.

For the latest election gossip

Whilst not a blog fan myself, I make an exception for Joe Klein, one of the foremost political commentators of today. Check out what he has to say on here.

For explanation

If all the talk of electoral colleges, red and blue states and hanging chads is making you feel like you speak a foreign language, help is only a mouseclick away.

A mouseclick to BBC.co.uk that is.

And if that isn't enough information, just check out series seven of the West Wing.

It basically tells you (with amazing foresight) the story of this years election. And Rob Lowe is very sexy in it.

Bartlett for America, anyone?