A selection of our best Voices of Africa correspondents took to the streets in cities and villages across our continent to find out what folk think of the US presidential candidate whose links to Africa start in Kenya, but don’t end there. Read about what they discovered, from Antananarivo to Zimbabwe:
The 2008 election is particularly notable because it is the first time in US history that two sitting senators will run against each other for president.
The election will also be the first time an African American will be a presidential nominee for a major party.
Either candidate would become the first president born outside the continental US, as Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and McCain was born at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, a US naval base.
McCain would be the first president from Arizona, while Obama would be the third president elected from Illinois, the first two being Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S Grant.
If inaugurated on January 20 2009, McCain would be the oldest US president upon ascension to the presidency at age 72 years and 144 days.
Independent candidate Ralph Nader is running, as he did in 2000 and 2004, though he is not expected to be a major factor in the 2008 race.
The election is also notable for who is not running -- it's the first since 1928 in which neither an incumbent president nor vice-president sought his party's nomination.
On August 23, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware was announced Obama's running mate via an SMS to supporters. This was the first time in a campaign where an SMS was used
On July 23 2007, nine hopefuls for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination faced questions from viewers on YouTube, including a snowman asking about global warming and man with an assault rifle asking about gun control.
Wikipedia on:
