We try to stay out of politics here at Autoblog, but sometimes, events obligate us to jump into the fray. The latest event is a Harvard Business School professor's comparison of the two leading presidential candidates to automobiles.

John Quelch said in an interview with Newsweek that he thinks of Barrack Obama as a new Prius and John McCain as an "old Ford F-150." Politically, those two products carry some weighty social symbolism that, as car guys, we're not all that concerned with.

In an odd yet intriguing bid to woo potential NASCAR-loving voters in Pennsylvania -- a key battleground state for hopeful presidential candidates -- Barack Obama is currently in talks regarding a possible sponsorship of a NASCAR team. BAM Racing's car number 49 is the vehicle in question, and individual donors to Obama's campaign could get a shot at seeing their very own name plastered on the side of the race car for as little as a $100 contribution. Such a deal! In a move sure to anger some traditional American loyalists, the car, to be driven by Ken Schrader, is a Toyota. We wouldn't expect too many fireworks from the car, though, as the BAM Racing team has only finished in the top ten a total of six times despite starting some 167 races since 2002.

As expected, presidential hopeful John McCain outlined a plan yesterday which would offer a $300 million cash prize to the first company able to build a better automotive battery. The proposal is part of an effort to reduce the nation's petroleum usage, in this case, by furthering the development of electric cars.