Like many pundits, I originally thought Hillary Clinton would get the Democratic Party nomination but instead, we have an Obama-McCain race this autumn. This head-to-head will, in large part, be a referendum on race and age in the US. But it will make a change from the gender issues which preoccupied the primary season. This cartoon, which references Grant Wood’s marvellous painting, American Gothic, was made in early January this year. (The second male head in this animated cartoon is John Edwards of North Carolina who has since disappeared from the national political scene after his non-marital sexual activity became published knowledge. His wife, Elizabeth, is suffering from a recurrent form of cancer.)