Obama health check

President Obama’s campaign pledge to widen health coverage to as many of the non insured as possible is stumbling amid partisan wrangling

Palin’s greatest hits

Why some people were concerned back in the autumn that this individual would be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Change to come in America?

I have come across a useful page on the BBC containing a series of short videos on the challenges facing Obama as President. 

Schott’s presidential almanac

How many presidents were over 6ft tall?  Which have had their faces on bank notes?

Find out via this jpg file, which would make a handy wall display:

Schott

Obama speech in full

I can’t seem to find the victory speech by Obama in Grant Park in full on YouTube, but this is the link to the BBC version:

Obama Chicago

‘Free’ poster

A quick heads up for students and teachers.  This weekend watch out for a US elections 2008 poster in the Independent on Sunday.  If recent graphics in the sister paper are anything to go by, the elections outcome map may contain a few statistical errors, but at least they are promising a picture portrait of the president elect on the other side.

Are you staying up for Obama?

If you are planning on staying up till the wee hours on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning here is a guide to what to expect.

For what it’s worth, I suspect it will be a lot closer than many polls are predicting and that we won’t be confident of the final result until sunrise on Wednesday.

See the guide from The Times here

US elections programming: heads up

Saturday More 4 at 7.05pm The story of Barack Obama and John McCain

As America prepares to go to the polls this Tuesday in what many consider to one of the most historical presidential elections in decades, Jon Snow narrates The Choice , a one-off documentary special which presents the story of Barack Obama and John McCain, and asks what do these two very unlikely presidential contenders say about the state of America at this crux moment in time?

Then at 11:20 pm on the same channel, Dispatches: Jon Snow’s American Journey

As Obama and McCain’s gladiatorial showdown enters its final week, Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow goes in search of the new America. Starting at the border with Mexico, Snow takes a road trip up the Pacific highway linking San Diego to Seattle, travelling though areas of great affluence, deprivation, innovation and tradition to find out about the new Americans, new economy and new directions that are shaping the next America.

On Channel 4 at 9.05 pm: Recount

Austin Powers director Jay Roach investigates the Florida voting scandal of 2000. Made-for-TV drama starring Kevin Spacey, Denis Leary, Laura Dern and Tom Wilkinson

The TV debates

A quick discussion about the presidential debates this morning revealed that students (a hat tip to Ben Winders here) thought that McCain seemed to spend more time attacking Obama rather than saying what he would do himself.  Now it turns out that “Joe the plumber” doesn’t even exist

Colin Powell dancing to hip hop speculation

The former Secretary of State danced with Olu Maintain, a Nigerian hip hop outfit and the news has been picked up by Fox News in the US that this signifies his intention to endorse Obama

The Young Turks show tackle this surreal notion