Pre-Election Back-and-Forth Turns (Pardon the Pun) Explosive

Those missing explosives in Iraq are spinning the spin machine like few other topics of late. If you're of the "Saddam had WMD all along" persuasion (with a hint of Commie intrigue thrown in), the Washington Times version of events is being linked heavily among bloggers.

Or if you're pretty certain that the U.S. invading forces had far more security troops defending the Iraqi oil ministry and oil fields than they had at the explosives-heavy Al Qaqaa, you're probably more inclined toward the footage from a Minnesota news crew that was reporting from the site just days after Bagdhad fell. Videographer Joe Caffrey and reporter Dean Staley jumped to Nos. 1 and 4 on today's Bursty People list. Also on the list at No. 2 is researcher Les Roberts, who reported this week that up to 100,000 more Iraqis have died, since the U.S. invasion, than would have been expected to die under normal circumstances in that country.

But if all this political blabbing and the incessant swing-state commercials have caused you to tune out already, maybe you'll get a laugh from commentary on this week's season-opening episode of South Park, perhaps the funniest slam yet of this year's election choices. Let's just say the kids at South Park Elementary were glad to keep the cow as their mascot rather than choose between the two options they otherwise faced (and please don't make me print it in public)

And don't forget to check BlogPulse's Campaign Radar 2004 Roundup, an analysis of politcal content in blogs during this campaign season. The graphic representations of bloggers' abilities to keep issues alive...or debunk them, if necessary is captured in these bottom-of-the-page analyses. It specifically tracks the blob buzz about the Swift Boat veterans campaign and the fallout of CBS' "memogate" reporting on President Bush's National Guard Service.

TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Today's Bush vs. Kerry graph shows just how close this election could/will/can/might be.