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Click here to find out who Barack Obama has chosen as his running mate, and here for some additional detail and background information. McCain is set to announce his running mate shortly, too.

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.

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While the public in the US debates an alleged ‘love affair‘ of the mainstream media with the Democratic presidential hopeful, there is absolutely not the slightest doubt about the big crush the German press and public alike have on Obama. The Germans are pretty much a fourteen-year old teenager right now, minus the pimples, but with all the obsessions a young and unexperienced heart can develop when it is captivated by a charming heartthrob for the first time.

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With Barack Obama speaking at the Siegessäule this Thursday, the American presidential campaign has now definitely arrived in Germany. We spoke with Jan Burdinski, program director for Republicans Abroad Germany, and Jerry Gerber, press secretary for Democrats Abroad Berlin, about the impact of the election in Germany and the possible role of Americans living here.

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Weather: solid 83° Fahrenheit. Crowd: Tempelhof-groupies and EasyJet-set. Food: German, served with Stars & Stripes. Welcome to Amerikafest 2008.

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I feel like waking up from a bad dream only to realize the dream is reality. It’s true, I will not be the Democratic Nominee for the Presidential Election 2008. There, I said it. All those scavengers in the media would love to have that quote. There is more meat sticking to it than there’s pork in Washington. And here I am, telling you, but not telling them.

You know, I always said to Bill “We can not and will not be defeated!” For christsakes, he got into the White House, and he knows probably half as much about health care, trade negotiations and the Iraq War as I do. Who could – no, better – who dared to stop me? I had the pundits, I had the funding, I had the media. I was a historical inevitability.
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For five and a half hours last night, and all day today the Democratic Rules and Bylaws Committee was debating what do with the contested primaries of Michigan and Florida. And hell, were they debating. It’s a nightmare for the Democratic Party but a wet dream for C-SPAN addicts and, most of all, this guy:

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Is it women’s issues, or the bathing suit competition after all?

On Sunday afternoon, Melinda Henneberger cleared up some misconceptions about women voters. And she should know, as she has traveled the U.S. for about two years to try to find an answer to the question: How do women voters chose their candidate?

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Just when you thought the Dems were beginning to move in circles, looking to something as colorful as gas taxes to spike the “Donkey Punch,” Obama supporters turn the knobs and change the beat.

Following Will.I.Am’s wildly popular “Yes We Can,” featuring soul saint John Legend, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the angelic Scarlett Johansson (just to name a few), TI$A (from the superior, but much overlooked, hip-hop/r’n'b producer/writer/super group Sa-Ra Creative Partners) drops another MTV/Hollywood gem to keep the election spectacle vibrant.

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On July 21, 1944, American troops retook Guam from the Japanese. For almost 64 years after that crucial victory in World War II, absolutely nothing happened there. Until now.

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