Author(s): RUNDLE Guy

Politics

If the past is a foreign country, 2008 is another planet.

Who imagined the United States electing its first black president? Who imagined the scale of the global economic crisis? Who imagined Sarah Palin?

Guy Rundle was on the ground throughout the momentous election, trailing its unlikely cast of candidates from Washington to Wasilla - the steely former First Lady and the backwater hockey mom, the maverick Republican war veteran and the Southern Baptist bass player, and the youthful greenhorn who was catapulted into the global spotlight.

With caustic wit and political nous, Rundle's celebrated Crikeyreports told the day-by-day story of the gruelling primaries, orgiastic conventions and debates. HIllary's photogenic tears, Troopergate, the bailout, 'Walnuts' McCain's countless houses, Tina Fey. . . Rundle counters the spin with the homespun, talking to cab drivers, party volunteers and fellow bar flies.

The result is a compelling and irreverent record of the history-making year, when America went down to the crossroads and chose an inspirational new direction for the world.

'Far and away the best coverage of the election' - Phillip Adams