Being a Democrat or Republican is like being a Ford fan or Chevy supporter. While there are undecideds who might choose a Mustang or Camaro based on their spec sheets alone, most us already know where our allegiance lies and will defend our choice regardless. The analogy between your political party and pony car preference just got a little more interesting thanks to a study by Landor Associates and research firm Penn, Schoen and Berland. They issued a survey asking respondents to compare the top two political contenders with brands in the marketplace, and the results weren't shocking so much as reflective of the prevailing perceptions of each candidate.

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 the wake of GM's Tuesday press conference detailing its plans to have enough cash on hand through 2009, politicians have been eager to voice their thoughts regarding the possibility of a government bailout. President Bush gave the possibility a strong no, but the two guys in line for his job have taken a different route.

Petroleum prices are making electric vehicles and engines which run on biofuels look more and more attractive with each passing day. That's why its likely to be a hot topic this election season as each presidential candidate sets out his own unique proposals to ease the country into a new era of lower fuel consumption. Biofuels may be the quickest path to lower petroleum usage, but it's electric vehicles which present the biggest step forward in clean auto technology looking forward.

As part of the 2008 Global Automotive Survey, the automotive division of law firm Dykema Gossett PLLC surveyed 46 leading automotive executives in America on their opinions regarding the upcoming presidential race and the forecast for the U.S. automotive industry. The picture that the respondents painted in their responses was anything but bright.