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Letter to a Young Voter | Why Don't We Have Universal Voter Registration? | Don't Freak Out About That Zogby Number

PEEK Newsletter November 3rd, 2008 More blogs and video »

Why Don't We Have Universal Voter Registration? By dday, Hullabaloo Universal voter registration is the answer to Republican hissy fits about so-called "voter fraud." Read more »   Poor Bush: 'There Is a Real Sadness There' in the White House By Faiz Shakir, Think Progress Apparently the Bush White House doesn't enjoy being this unpopular. Read more »   Unfinished Business: Did the GOP hack the 2004 Ohio Vote? By Steven Rosenfeld A top GOP consultant will be deposed Monday about the capacities of Ohio Republicans to intercept and alter the 2004 vote count that re-elected Bush. Read more »   About That Zogby Number That Was Freaking People Out By Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog Step away from the precipice and nobody gets hurt. Read more »   Letter To a Young Person: I Ain't John Cusack, But You Better Vote By Jill Hussein C. All the effort in the world means nothing if you don't show up to vote. Read more »   Obama's Aunt? Here's Why the Leak Is Illegal, Not Important By dday, Hullabaloo Just who was it who dug up the information about Barack Obama's aunt? Read more »   Too Cute (and Talented): You Can Vote However You Like By Staff, CitizenTube A catchy message from the seventh graders at Atlanta's Ron Clark Academy. Read more »

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Money, money, money? No thanks, say Mamma Mia! trio - Richard Brooks, Arts Editor

Money, money, money? No thanks, say Mamma Mia! trio

Judy Craymer, the producer who owns the rights, nurtured the idea of turning Abba?s songs into a musical for 15 years before it opened in 1999

Richard Brooks, Arts Editor

Gimme, gimme, gimme . . . another Abba film.

The studio that made Mamma Mia!, the escapist, recession-defying cinema hit, wants to exploit its success with a follow-up. The three women who created it, however, are unenthusiastic, worried that the integrity of the original will be lost.

Judy Craymer, the producer who owns the rights, is estimated to have earned £90m from the film and West End stage show.

She and her two collaborators – Phyllida Lloyd, the director, and Catherine Johnson, the writer – have no financial need to permit a new film and are keen to protect their creation. "The history of sequels is littered with corpses," said Lloyd. "Also I have this fear that a sequel or whatever, would be done just for financial reasons when it's the creative point of view which should be paramount."

Last week Mamma Mia!, which has taken £67m since it was released in July, became the highest-gross-ing British-made film at the UK box office. Within the next three weeks it is almost certain to become the biggest earner of all time in Britain, overtaking Titanic, which opened in 1997 and took just over £69m.

Despite the sniffy reviews, audiences have enjoyed Mamma Mia's escapist setting on a Greek island in the sun and its much-loved songs by the 1970s Swedish band Abba.

"The economic gloom has to be a factor for some people going to get away from all the bad news," said David Kosse, president of Universal Pictures International, which distributed the film.

The studio now wants to capital-ise on the success of the £30m film, whose stars include Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Julie Walters. "That could be a sequel, a prequel or simply spin-offs," said Kosse. "When you have a film of this size you want to exploit the franchise."

Craymer nurtured the idea of turning Abba's songs into a musical for 15 years before it opened in 1999.

Johnson, once an impoverished writer and single mother, described herself as "skint" when she first wrote the words for the musical a decade ago. She has now pocketed about £25m. Lloyd is best known as a director of operas and plays. Her award-winning version of Mary Stuart, written by Friedrich Schiller, is about to open on Broadway.

— The latest James Bond film has taken a record £4.9m at the box office on its opening day in Britain. The takings for Quantum of Solace, starring Daniel Craig, beat the previous record of £4m, which was set by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5063292.ece

Obama: I am the chosen one - Untried, untested but ready, Obama dares the US to vote him in - Andrew Sullivan

Obama: I am the chosen one

Untried, untested but ready, Obama dares the US to vote him in

Andrew Sullivan

Nobody knows what will happen on Tuesday, but there is a clear chance that one of the unlikeliest events in American political history could take place. A miscegenated black man could become president of the United States. And if the polls are accurate, the state of Virginia will be critical in any Democratic victory.

This state has not voted for a Democrat since 1964 but now gives Barack Obama a lead of about six points. That is remarkable from the perspective of the past few decades – but much more staggering when you take a longer view.

Virginia contains Richmond, once the capital of the Confederate slave states. As recently as 1961, when Obama was born, Virginia would have ruled his parents' marriage illegal, because it was inter-racial. In fact, it was not until Obama was six that Obama's parents' marriage would have been made legal in that state, and Obama ceased being illegitimate. And that happened only because the US Supreme Court forced it. That is how far Virginia and America have come in Obama's lifetime – and ours.

It would be easy to rhapsodise too sentimentally about this – but just as easy to understate its momentousness. I do not believe Americans or anyone else in the world will fully absorb it until it happens.

How America's presidents rated

The Times has ranked all 42 US presidents - was Bush Jr. bottom? Did JFK beat Abraham Lincoln?

Related Links

• Republicans in plot to smear Obama

• A child's-eye view of the presidency

• Obama in his own words

America, after all, was founded on one principle, freedom, but permeated by another, slavery. Slavery was America's original sin and Obama is the fruit of its slow and painful self-absolution. The civil war over the question was immensely bloody – far bloodier per capita than any other war in American history.

The victory of the north led to intense resistance in the defeated south for a century of segregation and cruelty – and still divides the country to this day.

In fact if you place a map of the states that favoured the proslavery south over a map of the states that are now showing a trend for John McCain, you will get an almost perfect match. The only differences: Virginia has switched sides, and West Virginia has too. (It is now for McCain.) Florida, once part of the Confederacy, is also now prone to vote Democrat because of a massive influx from the north.

The rest is essentially unchanged since the 1860s. Even in America, the past controls the present.

Obama – for extra historic piquancy – is from Illinois and began his campaign in Springfield, where Abraham Lincoln started his. Like Lincoln, Obama is trained in the law, came from a humble background, and is aiming for the presidency with almost no executive experience.

People forget how inexperienced Lincoln was when he took office after one of the worst presidencies in American history – James Buchanan's. Lincoln had held no legislative or executive office and had been a congressman for only two years previously. He became a national star primarily because of his oratory. Sound familiar?

Lincoln's task is Obama's: to unite a deeply fractured country. Lincoln's challenges were far greater, but if Obama wins on Tuesday he will still face an immense set of challenges.

The United States is in two gruelling wars thousands of miles away, neither of which appears to be approaching anything that could be called "victory".

In a mere eight years President George W Bush has doubled the national debt he inherited and turned a federal surplus into a half-a-trillion deficit.

Bush's Republicans have also added a cool $32 trillion to future government liabilities and kept taxes unsustainably low unless entitlements are slashed in a manner no politician would contemplate. America's real economy is in a recession and its financial stability is in doubt. Economic inequality has soared and cultural polarisation has intensified. The crisis America finds itself in is reminiscent of 1980, and perhaps 1932. Whoever inherits Bush's awful legacy will have his work cut out.

A President Obama would start with the task that bedevilled his two predecessors. America remains deeply riven and the past president exacerbated those divides to keep himself in power.

You can see the fruits of that policy everywhere in the McCain campaign. The hardest core of McCain's supporters seem not just to oppose Obama but to regard him as inherently illegitimate. They see him as at best a socialist and at worst a traitor. A clear minority refuses to believe he is a Christian and many believe he is not merely Muslim but allied with Islamist terror.

McCain and Sarah Palin, desperate to find an argument to wrest themselves out of their polling deficit, have deliberately and clearly legitimised this line of attack. Palin has said that Obama has been "palling around with terrorists". A McCain spokesman last week said on cable televi-sion that Obama was a friend of antisemites. The now-famous "Joe the Plumber" has said that an Obama presidency would mean "death to Israel". The paranoid strain in American politics, long present, has made Obama's task of uniting the country if he is elected that much harder.

Indeed, there are many signs that if Obama wins, the strategy of the Republican right will be to treat him as potentially treasonous until proven otherwise. Any outreach Obama might make to, say, elements in the Iranian regime will not be interpreted as hardheaded diplomacy, but as proof that Obama is in covert league with America's enemies. Any withdrawal from Iraq could lead to a "stab-in-the-back" narrative that blames treacherous leftist elites for waving "the white flag of surrender" and betraying good American soldiers.

Many on the far right have advanced themes that suggest that the election is being stolen by Democrats and their allies by fraudulently registering black and Hispanic voters. McCain himself asserted in the final debate that what might be at stake is the biggest voter fraud in the history of American politics – an absurd hyperbole, but one deployed aggressively nonetheless. These are dangerous waters to swim in, but, sadly, the fringes of the far right have come close to defining the Republican party.

If Obama wins big, moreover, he could face bigger challenges than if he wins by a conventional margin. The devastated congressional right will be reduced to those in the safest seats with the most ideological bent. Just like the Tories after 1997, the Republicans could marinate in their own denial before they wake up and move painfully back to the centre.

Already, some are positioning Palin to be the standard-bearer for the next wave of Republicanism – a potent combination of populist antielitism and religious zeal. If you consider how the right responded to Bill Clinton's election in 1992, and then add race to the mix, the prospect for calm ahead is slight.

Equally, too big a Democratic majority in the House and Senate could make Obama vulnerable to left-liberal hubris and conservative Democrat revolt. Few economists recommend fiscal austerity in the current downturn, but there is a risk of empowered Democratic power brokers on Capitol Hill overcompensating and initiating a binge of favoured spending projects in their own constituencies.

Any spending increase by Obama will be reliably greeted by a chorus of "socialism!" from the opposition (an opposition that said almost nothing while Bush increased federal spending by a bigger margin than any president since FDR) and any tax increases in a recession will prompt overwhelming caterwauling as a further drag on the economy.

My bet is that his tax rises will be more modest than advertised. By the time Clin-ton became president, remember, the recession of the early 1990s was almost over. When Obama becomes president, it will just be beginning.

On climate change, the task will be made much harder by that depression – as Obama's cap-and-trade scheme would indisputably hurt business. On immigration, Obama would easily be able to pass a bill favoured by Bush, but also face a nasty backlash from the right and maybe even in his own party.

Obama may even be leery of his signature healthcare reform, remembering what happened to the Clintons in 1993. And the price of a big majority will be a lot of Democrats in marginal seats in normally Republican states who may well bolt if Obama gets too liberal.

Managing all of this will not be easy. And Obama will also have to deal with Democrat-run congressional committees finally getting a thorough look at what the Bush administration has been up to in the past eight years.

Among the issues that will be impossible to avoid will be evidence of war crimes and torture authorised by the outgoing president and his closest aides. Prosecu-tion? A truth and reconciliation commission on the South African or Chilean mod-els? All we can say with certainty is that these are difficult questions in which maintaining the political centre will be extremely hard.

Equally, if Obama is too cautious and too careful not to divide the country, he could end up squandering his own mandate. He has potential enemies to the left of him as well as the right. If he is elected, he will cap a generation of rising anger and frustration on the Democratic left. From their point of view, the Clintons were semi-Republicans in the 1990s, the 2000 election was stolen and the 2004 election was an artefact of warmongering and religious pandering. They do not just want to win. They want to get even. They have a head of steam that could scald Obama as powerfully in office as it has helped propel him to the verge of the presidency.

There is also an enormous liability for Obama in the great hopes he has inspired. The reason for the wave of optimism behind him – just look at the massive crowds across the country this past year – is almost entirely due to the profound national demoralisation of the recent past. Iraq and Afghanistan, Katrina and the financial meltdown, torture and religious extremism: all these have led many Americans to the brink of despair about their own country. A historically unprecedented number of Americans believe their country is on the wrong track and view Obama as the vehicle to repair it.

Among the most enthusiastic Obama supporters, there are tinges of hero worship and aspirations beyond anything any human being can deliver. And the hostility born of dashed expectations is always the worst. People expecting a messiah will at some point be forced to realise they have merely elected a president.

No president will be able to wave the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan away with some kind of magic wand – there are few good options in either conflict, and many potential perils. No president will be able to end a recession with deep roots or alter market confidence in a single speech.

No president can change the Earth's climate in four or eight years. And when Obama's limitations emerge, as they will, there is a danger that the powerful expectations of his young base may turn to tears. This is always the risk with political "movements". They conjure up utopias that can simply never happen.

Between the roiling and increasingly bitter rapids on the right and the left, can Obama maintain a steady course? We cannot know, of course. But the evidence of the past year is encouraging. What has been truly amazing is the preternatural calm and moderation Obama has shown throughout this volatile and emotional campaign. He has managed to get to the brink of the White House by beating some of the most formidable political machines in America – the Clintons and the Roves – without intensifying the conflict or polarising the country himself.

He seems able to absorb these currents without further disturbing them. Of course, this is much harder in office than in opposition. In office, you have to make decisions that delineate winners and losers rather than make speeches onto which everyone can project their interests. But Obama seems unafraid of his enemies, undeterred by his rivals, and able somehow to stay healthy and cheerful.

His temperamental edge is complemented by his organisational and managerial skills. The most seasoned political observers have been struck by the meticulous professionalism of his campaign; and there has never been a fundraising machine as innovative or as successful as his in the history of American politics.

Moreover, he has put himself out there in the most Republican of Republican states. He looks competitive not only in usually Republican Virginia, but also Ohio, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Indiana and even Georgia. In one of the more surre-al moments of last week, it looked as if the Obama campaign was considering a serious last-minute effort in Arizona, McCain's home state.

My own view is that Obama is a midwest-ern centrist in his gut. He is much more like the Clintons substantively than either he or the Clintons would care to admit. The right's biggest mistake in this campaign has been to believe that Obama is a closet radical and that if they could expose that, they would win. Although Obama is a product of his generation and of academia, his proximity to the intellectual left does not seem to have affected his policies.

His healthcare plan is less leftist than the Republican Mitt Romney's in Massachu-setts. His proposals cut taxes for 90% of Americans. His climate change proposals are tediously conventional (too conventional to my mind). His instincts on foreign policy are more George H W Bush than George W Bush, which is to say he's a pragmatic empiricist. If I were to bet on one appointment that Obama will make to his cabinet, it would be keeping Robert Gates, the defence secretary, at the Pentagon.

He is a strange liberal who seems to get along famously with conservatives. And he has now run up quite a roster of conservative endorsements, from Colin Powell to Francis Fukuyama. This is partly why a historical perspective on Obama does indeed return to the figure of Lincoln and the trau-ma of the 1860s.

In the middle of an unbridgeable divide, Lincoln kept calm. He inherited a much more divided country, of course. Lincoln did not even campaign in most of the southern states – he was not even on the ballot in most of them. By the time he was elected, many of them had already seceded. But Lincoln's dedication to the cause of abolishing slavery was matched by a moderate demeanour and an extreme aversion to political polarisation.

Lincoln famously staffed his cabinet with what the historian Doris Kearns Good-win has called a "team of rivals". Think of the way in which Obama handled the Clintons. He gave them just enough rope to hang themselves but managed to avoid a real breach. Last week Obama was jointly campaigning with Bill and comparing his economic proposals to Clinton's in 1992.

That is a unifying skill Lincoln had and Obama will need. Obama's capacity to pacify his enemies and organise his friends is his most telling characteristic. It should not be mistaken for softness. There is steel behind the velvet. But the velvet is really smooth and comfy.

Obama will also have something Lincoln never had. He will be in his DNA the visible incarnation of a wound that dates to America's beginnings. If he is elected president, there will be a healing of some sort deep in the country's psyche. That act will be a catalyst for unknowable change in America and in America's role in the world. We can and should focus on his challenges, on the divisions still festering in America, on economic crisis and military quagmires. But what Obama appeals to is what Reagan appealed to: an American optimism that problems can be solved and divisions can be overcome.

In the coming week, if he is elected, we would be wise to resist euphoria or sentiment. But we would be wilfully blind not to sense the gravity and potential of the moment as well. We could have the first black president, with a congressional majority of a size not seen since Lyndon Johnson. We could see a landslide among the young. We could see an unprecedented African-American turnout – a moment when black Americans actively take ownership for the first time of the society in which they have always been such an integral part.

We simply do not know what new realities this moment could unleash. What we do know is that this is history – epic, deep, momentous history.

Let us keep our heads. But let us not numb our hearts. Somewhere in a Burkean idyll, countless Americans who lived before us, the souls of so many black folk and white folk across the centuries, are watching. What would Washington have said? How could Lincoln believe it? How amazed would Martin Luther King be?

We are indeed on the verge of something that seems even more incredible the closer it gets, something more than a mere election. This is America, after all. It is a place that has seen great cruelty and hardship in its time. But it is also a place that yearns to believe naively in mornings rather than evenings, that cherishes dawns over dusks, that is not embarrassed by its own sense of destiny. In this unlikely mixed-race figure of Barack Obama, we will for a brief moment perhaps see a nation reimagined and a world of possibilities open up. For a brief moment at least.

As they have learnt to say in some of the most blighted parts of the world at some of the most desperate times: know hope.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5061437.ece

FORMULA1/Brazilian Grand Prix - Lewis Hamilton wins 2008 driver's title after stunning finish

FORMULA1 - Lewis Hamilton wins 2008 driver's title after stunning finish

(Kerim Okten/EPA)

Hamilton held his nerve to overtake Glock on the final lap and take the title in dramatic fashion

Neil Gardner

Brazilian Grand Prix: How the race was won

Lewis Hamilton has become Formula One's youngest ever champion in the most dramatic fashion after finishing fifth in the season-ending Brazil Grand Prix at Interlagos.

As title rival Felipe Massa of Ferrari cruised to victory at his home grand prix, a late-race rain shower looked set to rob Hamilton of the championship after a stop for wet tyres dropped him to sixth, but he managed to overtake Timo Glock's Toyota with just seconds to spare as they entered the pit straight.

"It's pretty much impossible to put into words," a clearly emotional Hamilton said of his victory. "It's been such a long journey - all the sacrifices we've made, I'm so thrilled to do this for everyone.

"It was one of the toughest races of my life."

Ron Dennis, the McLaren chief, hailed Hamilton as a deserved champion. "He's a very special talent. He's the youngest ever world champion and he's done it so well," he said. "If you look at the statistics from all the races this year then you'll realise that.

"He has finished this season with more points than anyone over the last two seasons, so he's deserved it. We are delighted for him. We have enjoyed it a lot here and I'd like to thank all the English supporters for their support,"

Driving with great control, judgement and aided by luck, Hamilton avoided the problems that wrecked his bid to become the first rookie champion last year as he steered his McLaren Mercedes to glory after a tense contest.

Only on that amazing final lap did Hamilton regain the place he needed when German Glock lost 18 seconds in his Toyota and slipped behind him.

Until then, Hamilton's title hopes looked to have been washed away in an amazing late rainstorm but they were rescued in the final minute in front of an impassioned 100,000 crowd at the Interlagos circuit.

"The team didn't say anything so I though I was shot," Hamilton said. "When it started to drizzle, I didn't want to take any risks but at the final corner I got past Glock and I couldn't believe it. I thought 'do I have it, do I have it?' When they told me [I did] I was ecstatic.

"I have done enough and we made it. I can forget everything else.

The race, run in unpredictable wet and dry conditions, was won comprehensively by his nearest rival and local hero Massa who broke into tears on the victors' podium.

Hamilton, 23, drove a measured and calculated race to try and avoid trouble in his McLaren Mercedes car as he claimed the title at the end of only his second season. He allowed Massa in his Ferrari to run away at the front and claim his sixth win this year and the 11th victory of his career.

Massa was followed home by two times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault and third placed Ferrari team mate outgoing champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen.

German youngster Sebastien Vettel was fourth for Toro Rosso after passing Hamilton in the final laps and Hamilton fifth, just, after his late recovery when Glock slowed down and finished sixth. Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen of Finland came home seventh.

The result meant heartbreak for Massa, who had won two more races than Hamilton this season: "We've had ups and downs and we've paid for that." he said. "Sometimes you have a perfect year with a reliable car, and then sometimes you have these ups and downs, and that has been our championship.

"Everybody has worked hard, with heart, and they've done a great job. But we have to congratulate Lewis. He did a great championship, he scored more points than us, and he is a great champion.

"But I'm proud and I'm leaving the track with my head held high, although with mixed emotions We won the race and we have to be proud of that, but missing out by one point - that's racing.

"We need to be proud of our race and our championship. You learn how to win and to lose. It's one more day of my life, and I will learn a lot from it, but right now I am very emotional."

There was also disappointment for David Coulthard who crashed on the opening lap in his 246th and final grand prix, bringing a 15- season career to an end in an untimely fashion.

Hamilton's triumph made him first Briton to take the world title since Damon Hill in 1996 and the first McLaren champion since Finn Mika Hakkinen in 1999. He is Britain's ninth champion.

The previous youngest champion was two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault who was 24 years, one month and 27 days old when he won the title in 2005.

Hamilton was 23 years, nine months and 26 days old as he drove to glory, while Massa had been hoping to be the first Brazilian champion since Ayrton Senna in 1991.

Leading Final Positions after Race (71 Laps):

1. Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari) 1:34:11.435
2. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Renault) at 13.298
3. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari) 16.235
4. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Toro Rosso) 38.011
5. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren) 38.907
6. Timo Glock (GER/Toyota) 44.368
7. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/McLaren) 55.074
8. Jarno Trulli (ITA/Toyota) 1:08.463
9. Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull) 1:19.666
10. Nick Heidfeld (GER/BMW Sauber) 1 lap
11. Robert Kubica (POL/BMW Sauber) 1 lap
12. Nico Rosberg (GER/Williams) 1 lap
13. Jenson Button (GBR/Honda) 1 lap
14. Sibastien Bourdais (FRA/Toro Rosso) 1 lap
15. Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Honda) 1 lap
16. Adrian Sutil (GER/Force India) 2 lap ~
17. Kazuki Nakajima (JPN/Williams) 2 lap
18. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA/Force India) 2 lap

Retirements:

Nelson Piquet Jr (BRA/Renault) - accident 1st lap
David Coulthard (GBR/Red Bull) - accident 1st lap

Final World Championship Standings after Brazilian Grand Prix

1. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 98 pts - champion 2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 97, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 75, 4 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 75, 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 61, 6 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 60, 7 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 53, 8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso 35, 9 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 31, 10 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 25, 11 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 21, 12 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 19, 13 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 17, 14 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 11, 15 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 9, 16 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 8, 17 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 4, 18 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 3

Constructers: 1 Ferrari 172pts, 2 McLaren 151, 3 BMW Sauber 135, 4 Renault 80, 5 Toyota 56, 6 Scuderia Toro Rosso 39, 7 Red Bull 29, 8 Williams 26, 9 Honda 14

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article5067553.ece

Usa2008: Meet the candidates - The presidential nominee: Barack Obama / The vice-presidential nominee: Joe Biden / The presidential nominee: John McCain / The vice-presidential nominee: Sarah Palin

Meet the candidates

Illinois Senator Barack Obama

Image :1 of 16

The Democrats

The presidential nominee: Barack Obama

Date of birth: August 4 1961

Professional background: A community organiser and later a lawyer.

Political experience: Junior Senator from Illinois since 2005, Obama served in the Illinois State Senate for the previous seven years.

Political positions: To the left of the Democratic Party, Obama advocates gradual withdrawal from Iraq (a war which he opposed from the outset) and dialogue with states such as Iran, Cuba and North Korea while taking a tougher line on US allies such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He is campaigning on universal healthcare and an expansion of social security. Strong on the environment, he proposes a carbon trading system for business. He also plans to introduce tax cuts for poor and rescind those granted by Bush to the wealthiest Americans.

Obama launched his campaign on a platform of hope and change and, while his message has successfully energised supporters, he has been criticised by opponents as an airy-fairy celebrity candidate with little substance.

Religion: A Christian, Obama at the start of the campaign was a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ, a Protestant grouping with largely African-American congregations. Early in 2008 the candidate was forced to denounce his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, for controversial rhetoric over American foreign policy, 9/11 and race relations. The church's decision to award Louis Farrakhan a lifetime achievement award was also highlighted by Obama's critics, and the various controversies led Obama to quit the church earlier this year. The candidate has also been forced to defend himself against internet smears suggesting he is a secret Muslim.

You might not know that: In 1990, Obama was elected as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review in its 104 year history. He is also the only African-American currently in the Senate. He is careful not to campaign as a black candidate, promising to be a leader for all Americans rather than one community - however this position has led him into conflict with notable black politicians such as Jesse Jackson.

The vice-presidential nominee: Joe Biden

Date of birth: November 20 1942

Professional background: Lawyer

Political experience: Senior Senator from Delaware since 1973 and chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 2001, Biden is currently the sixth-longest-serving member of the Senate.

Political positions: Co-authored a "third way" strategy to end sectarian violence in Iraq - creating federal regions for Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds - passed by the Senate in September, and proposes a five step plan towards withdrawal. He advocates intervention in Sudan and sees Iran, Russia and North Korea as greatest threats to world. Pro-choice but opposed to federal funding for abortion, Biden supports same-sex civil unions but not marriage. He is opposed to the death penalty, taking a pro-rehab approach to crime and supporting gun control. He promotes efforts to tackle global warming including renewables and carbon trading and supports welfare reform.

Religion: Roman Catholic

You might not know that: He ran for President in 1988 but his campaign collapsed after he was accused of plagiarising a speech by then British Labour Leader Neil Kinnock, which referred to his ancestors playing football after a long day in the coal mines. He made a primary bid in 2008 but withdrew after placing fifth in the Iowa caucus, the first contest of the season.

The Republicans

The presidential nominee: John McCain

Date of birth: August 29 1936

Professional background: Naval aviator and businessman. Wife Cindy is a multi-millionairess, having inherited control of Hensley & Co, one of the largest US beer distributors, from her father.

Political experience: The Senior Senator from Arizona since 1987, McCain previously served four years in the House of Representatives.

Political positions: Regarded as a moderate Republican and well-respected on both sides of the political divide, McCain has sponsored gun control legislation and supports an amnesty for illegal aliens as well as increases in legal immigration. He is however strongly pro-life and anti-gay marriage.

McCain supported the invasion of Iraq but believes mistakes have been made by the Bush administration. He would not withdraw troops and believes the US may eventually have to take military action against Iran, but is an outspoken opponent of the use of torture or abusive interrogation techniques in the name of security. A deficit hawk, he has opposed many of Bush's tax cuts.

Religion: A Baptist, McCain makes little mention of his religious beliefs on the campaign trail and has previously blasted "agents of intolerance" in the evangelical right.

You might not know that: John McCain was a famous prisoner of war for 5 and a half years during the Vietnam conflict, incarcerated for most of that time at the notorious "Hanoi Hilton". The torture he suffered has left him permanently unable to raise his arms above his head.

Actually scratch that, because if you've managed to catch the merest glimpse of a McCain ad during that last year you'll know it already. So have another one. As well as four children (one adopted) from his second marriage, McCain also has three (two adopted) from his first, to Carol Shepp. McCain married the then model, originally from Philadelphia, in 1965, and their union endured throughout his captivity. However after returning to the US to find his wife crippled by a serious car accident, McCain began to have regular affairs, culminating in a liason with Cindy Hensley in 1979. The couple divorced in 1980.

The vice-presidential nominee: Sarah Palin

Date of birth: February 11 1964

Professional background: Sports journalist and sometime worker in family commercial fishing business

Political experience: Palin began her political career with her 1992 election to the city council of Wasilla, Alaska, a town which then had some 4,000 inhabitants. Six years later she took office as mayor of the town, a position she held for six years before becoming chairperson of the Alaskan Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. In late 2006, she became the first female governor of Alaska.

Political positions: A pro-gun, pro-life moose-hunting evangelist, Palin portrays herself as a down-to-earth "hockey mom" who puts the interests of ordinary small-town Americans above those of corporate lobbyists, the Washington elite and even her own party. Her staunch social conservatism runs to an absolute opposition to abortion even in cases of rape and incest, while she has suggested that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in schools. She supports opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and as governor is suing the federal government over its decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species, which she claims would hamper oil and gas exploration. On foreign policy, she appears to have little in the way of a distinct position but generally backs McCain's stance and frequently highlights her son's deployment to Iraq.

Palin ran for governor on a clean-government platform and paints herself as a scourge of corruption. However she has since been censured for abuse of power in the Troopergate inquiry and has been revealed to have accepted financial earmarks she claims to have opposed.

Religion: Pentecostal evangelist and former longtime member of the Wasilla Assembly of God, a controversial church which believes Alaska will be the refuge for evangelicals from the lower 48 in the approaching End of Days. When running for governor, Palin was anointed at the church by visiting African pastor Thomass Muthee, whose ministry was founded on a witchhunt in a Kenyan town. She has appeared to credit that prayer as a contributing factor in her electoral success.

You might not know that: Where to start? A former Miss Congeniality in the Wasilla beauty pageant, Palin's CV makes colourful reading. Some of the claims, such as that she once sold a state government jet on eBay, have since turned out to be untrue, while critics are still tussling over allegations that she attempted to ban books she deemed subversive, that she believes humans walked with dinosaurs and that she was once a member of the Alaska Independence Party (her husband Todd definitely was). Less controversially, she has five children, recently giving birth to a young son with Down's Syndrome, Trigg.

A panel of experts from The Times has ranked every one of the US presidents - here are the men in the mediocre middle

he Times US presidential rankings - numbers 32 to 22

A panel of experts from The Times has ranked every one of the US presidents - here are the men in the mediocre middle

Jimmy Carter
(1977-1981)

Image :1 of 11

Nico Hines

Countdown:
42-33: the ten worst presidents
21-11: the nearly-greats
10-1: the greatest presidents
The panel and how it works

With Nixon and Bush Jr. out of the running nice and early, we can continue our comprehensive countdown to the greatest ever Commander-in-Chief in The Times US presidential rankings.

Eight of our US and foreign policy experts have considered, compared, debated and finally ranked all 42 presidents in order of greatness to give us a complete list of the best and worst.

Yesterday we published the ten worst and today it is time for numbers 32 to 22:

32. Jimmy Carter

1977-81 (Democratic)

Many of the comment posters on yesterday's worst ten presidents could not believe Carter missed the roll of shame. Well our panel only just left him out - making him their 11th worst President.

The Carter administration was dominated by a series of foreign policy disappointments including the surrender of the Panama Canal, the Iranian hostage crisis and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

In Washington, Carter instituted major civil service reform and restructured the health and education departments but he failed to excite the voting population and, with the economy struggling, he was comfortably voted out of office after a single term.

"Carter got just about everything wrong." Chris Ayres, Los Angeles correspondent

31. John Tyler

1841-45 (Whig)

Tyler assumed the presidency after a brief constitutional crisis following the sudden death of William Harrison. He had been the Vice President and from this moment, all VPs were a heartbeat away from the White House.

He struggled to assert his authority and his presidency was often referred to as "his accidency". He managed to survive the first ever attempt to impeach a President after an unpopular veto and went on to annex Texas and then bring Florida into the Union.

29= William H. Taft

1909-13 (Republican)

Taft's Presidency was overshadowed by the imposing figure of Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy had anointed his friend as his successor before changing his mind after Taft's first term and making an acrimonious but failed challenge to his Republican nomination.

The President sits low on our list after managing to alienate all sides of the political spectrum with unpopular anti-trust and tariff legislation during his term in office. His bid for re-election was the least successful ever as he secured just eight electoral votes and finished third behind Woodrow Wilson and Roosevelt, who was standing for the Progressive Party.

29= Benjamin Harrison

1889-93 (Republican)

Harrison implemented an unpopular, high tariff on goods imported into the US, raising prices while the American economy was suffering. At the same time, the President was signing substantial appropriation bills to increase spending on the navy, subsidised shipping and federal improvements. For the first time outside of war, Congress was allowed to spend a billion dollars, which was not welcomed by the impoverished electorate.

28. Zachary Taylor

1849-50 (Whig)

Taylor is another man to languish in the rankings due, at least in part, to a brief presidency.

A military man with no prior experience in public office, Taylor died after 16 months in the White House. Much of that short period in power was spent debating the future of slavery in the newly expanded United States. He was a Southern slave-owner but argued that slavery should not be allowed to spread.

27. Rutherford B. Hayes

1877-81 (Republican)

Hayes' election was the most controversial of all. He comfortably lost the popular vote but after months of bitter wrangling, he secured the electoral college by a single vote.

Once he had been sworn in during a secret ceremony, he finally brought an end to the period of post-civil war Reconstruction by abruptly withdrawing federal troops from the southern states and allowing the former Confederate states to rule themselves.

26. Calvin Coolidge

1923-29 (Republican)

Coolidge was seen as a caretaker when he stepped up from Vice President after Warren Harding's death, but his laissez-faire economic policies were popular as the economy boomed.

He was re-elected with 54 per cent of the popular vote but support faltered as he refused to intervene on behalf of struggling farmers and was slow to react to the Great Mississippi Flood. In foreign affairs, he passed the largely ineffectual Kellogg-Briand Pact, which called for signatories to renounce war.

"Probably the most modest man ever to hold the office. Disliked for his small-minded isolationist tendencies but on balance, it's a shame there were not more like him." Camilla Cavendish, columnist.

25. Gerald Ford

1974-77 (Republican)

Ford became President after Nixon's post-Watergate resignation and his best-known executive act was to grant his predecessor a full pardon.

His period in office coincided with a US recession and inflation rates of up to seven per cent, which left him with a large budgetary deficit and little room for manoeuvre. He vetoed 39 appropriation bills passed by Congress in his first 14 months to try and keep the economy afloat but that was not enough to impress our judges.

24. Andrew Johnson

1865-69 (Democratic, National Union)

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, Johnson refused to implement the harsh recriminations against the defeated Confederate states that would have been popular with many Unionists. As a southerner and a Democrat, standing under the umbrella National Union ticket, he was particularly susceptible to criticism from the victorious northern states.

His gentle approach to southern leaders and veto of civil rights legislation lost him the support of the Republican Party in Congress and he spent much of his presidency battling two attempts to impeach him.

"Nearly blew Lincoln's success." Gerard Baker, US editor.

23. Bill Clinton

1993-2001 (Democratic)

Clinton was one of the most controversial figures in our list with some of the panel rating him highly while others buried him at the foot of their rankings.

Clinton was the first Democrat to be re-elected President since Franklin Roosevelt. He successfully passed progressive legislation, including the right to take unpaid leave during pregnancy or illness and an increase in the minimum wage but he failed with other proposals such as his medical reforms.

His second term was dominated by the Monica Lewinsky scandal and attempted impeachment but he still left office with a 65 per cent approval rating.

"Promised so much, delivered so little and embarrassed everyone." Ben Macintyre, writer-at-large.

22. Chester Arthur

1881-85 (Republican)

A non-partisan President who attempted to improve the image of Washington officials by introducing an independent civil service commission, restricting political influence over official appointments and reducing tariff rates.

The Republicans repaid his lack of party loyalty by refusing to nominate him to run for a second term as President.

"His four years in office saw him turn widespread cynicism into grudging respect - the opposite of the usual Presidential experience." Camilla Cavendish.