Tortoise edging ahead of the hare in long race to the White House

THERE’S nothing like travellers’ tummy to focus the mind on the US election when you have been confined to your hotel bedroom with nothing to watch in English but CNN.

There are just 10 more weeks to go in this seemingly interminable election and American voters are beginning to home in on the choice confronting them. The reality, amid the information blur, is that few of them have the time — or, frankly, the inclination — to examine the voting records of senators Obama and McCain or even their policy stances across the ever-widening spectrum of issues.

Slightly curiously, for instance, American voters appear to be telling pollsters that they, at one and the same time, know little about the relative newcomer from Illinois but have also heard quite enough about Barack Obama.