But the elections are interesting not just because it's the US, but because they're a good way to understand how power is structured and implemented, and what voters do and don't respond to.

The fact that Bush, Sarkozy, and Berlusconi have all been voted in by people who's interests they're dedicated to abusing isn't something that can be ignored. If Obama can change that - even a little - it's worth looking at what he's doing to voters that makes him appear different.

Also, the inevitable language issue - being an English language blog, we'll be concentrating on English language issues. We've talked about non-English spin-offs, but that idea stalled when Scoop turned out to be impossible to localise easily.

There could be some mileage in moving to a different platform to make that easier, but it's not a small change and would take some serious organising.