Welcome to Sovern Nation

My name is Doug, and I am a political junkie. Have been since I was seven years old. Forget the 12 steps - how about 12 presidential elections? 2008 makes it an even dozen in my lifetime, although, yes, I've only been politically aware for 11 of them. Forty years after my political baptism (as a juvenile guerrilla volunteer in a Wisconsin congressional campaign), we find ourselves in the midst of a fascinating, and potentially history-making, presidential election. Americans may choose a woman as president for the first time. Or the first African-American. Or the first Latino. They may elevate a mayor to the White House for the first time. We may have our second Catholic president, or only our second divorced one, or the first Vietnam vet, or the first Mormon. The 2008 field is among the largest in history, and it's the most wide-open race since 1928. And you can follow it all at Sovern Nation, part of the KCBS Radio Campaign Watch.

I am covering the presidential race for KCBS (740 AM, San Francisco on your radio dial or listen live at www.kcbs.com). You can find exclusive interviews and all sorts of unique content at the Sovern Nation section of kcbs.com. We plan to interview every Democratic and Republican candidate; so far, I've sat down with five of them. Every time one of them visits the Bay Area and gives a speech or holds a campaign event, we'll post the audio. I and my colleagues at KCBS are doing all sorts of feature stories about the campaign and the candidates, and you can hear those at the site. We've also got weekly trivia, a Follow the Money link, a Poll of the Week with the latest survey results, a Power Rankings feature, and much more. I've written biographies of each candidate, and there are links to their campaign websites. I'm working on an Issues Chart, to help you see where each one stands on the critical issues facing our country. And there are many more features in the works!

We want to make Sovern Nation nothing less than your one-stop, go-to website for the 2008 presidential race, to help all of us make up our minds as we elect America's 44th president. Informative, illuminating but also fun - stuff you won't find anywhere else - along with the latest campaign video and audio from CBS News. Okay, maybe it's ambitious, but as I said, I'm a political junkie, so it will be a labor of love.

I welcome your feedback and comments. I'll blog in this space as the campaign goes along, about whatever happens along the way, from close encounters with Hillary Clinton to how Mitt Romney did in the latest debate. Thanks for reading, and listening, and make sure you register to vote in 2008! Simply click on the Sovern Nation weblink to the right to check out the site.