Panorama: US elections

A heads up on the Panorama programme covering the American presidential election on BBC1, Monday 13th October at 8.30pm. From the BBC website:

‘Our reporter travels to two very different Americas - Obama’s political home in South Chicago, and the crucial battleground state of Ohio - to see how the different versions of America offered by the Obama-Biden team and the McCain-Palin team are playing out.

He examines the astonishing trajectory of Mr Obama’s political career, which has seen him go from his first public office to presidential candidate in just 12 years.

And he tries to find out who the real Barack Obama is:

Is he, as some in the programme say, a neophyte, with nothing on his CV which qualifies him for the role as president?

Is he a scheming careerist, whose choices of friends, mentors and even which church to attend all come down to climbing the political ladder?

Or is he the real deal and America’s best hope in a troubled time?

The programme also examines the way in which Mr Obama and his supporters have broken the political mould, recruiting new voters from parts of the electorate previously thought unreachable and smashing all fund-raising records.’