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The US Presidential elections are finally entering the homestretch after a seemingly endless qualify season. USA Today has laid out the last meters in great detail. They describe how the campaigns try to prepare in advance for the events they know about and how they react to all the unscripted surprises that might happen before it’s all over November 4th. Prime example are the Olympic Games, during which both candidates will find it hard to generate substantial press coverage of their campaigns.

Here’s what fills the calendars of both John McCain and Barack Obama.

Aug. 1- Democratic national platform hearing in Cleveland

Aug. 4- Barack Obama’s 47th birthday

Aug. 8- Summer Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing

Aug. 16- Obama and John McCain at a forum hosted by evangelical leader Rick Warren at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.

Aug. 25- Democratic convention opens in Denver

Aug. 28- Obama accepts Democratic nomination at Invesco Field at Mile High

Aug. 29- McCain’s 72nd birthday

Sept. 1- Republican convention opens in St. Paul

Sept. 4- McCain accepts Republican nomination at Xcel Energy Center

Sept. 11- Seventh anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks

Sept. 12- Values Voter Summit opens in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the
conservative Family Research Council

Sept. 15– By week’s end, the last of the additional U.S. combat forces deployed to Iraq last year are scheduled to have been withdrawn. If additional forces are pulled home or repositioned to Afghanisten, a heavy debate about Obama’s stance on the surge is likely to start.

Sept. 18- Google/YouTube candidates’ forum in New Orleans

Sept. 26- First presidential debate sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, at the University of Mississippi in Oxford; on domestic policy

Oct. 1– October Surprise?

Oct. 2- Vice presidential debate sponsored by the debates commission, at Washington University in St. Louis

Oct. 7- Second presidential debate, at Belmont University in Nashville; town-hall format

Oct. 15- Third and final presidential debate, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.; on foreign policy.

Oct. 23- Final pre-election campaign finance reports due to Federal Election Commission

Nov. 4- Election Day