PCOer Martin Rowson writes:

Basically, it’s a bugger, and quite often you have you make a virtue of necessity by saying you don’t know (the result). So in 2000 I did a cartoon for The Scotsman, drawn on the day of the election, to be published on the Wednesday, saying that Ralph Nader had won. Then again, in 2004, in a cartoon appearing the day before the US election, I just launched into fantasy, second guessing the outcome (click the picture for details). After all, we’re in the business of comedy and fantasy, so you should, with a little bit of guidance to the readers, be able to get away with anything! Just like the Republicans!

This cartoon first appeared in the Guardian during the 2004 US Presidential election campaign.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent

We’ve seen how they covered the recent Democratic and Republican Conventions, but as the USA goes to the polls today, how do cartoonists cover an election?

Probably the most controversial approach is that being taken by Garry Trudeau of Doonesbury (seen here in the Guardian) – to draw the artwork for Wednesday’s strip in advance and in essence ‘call the election‘, in this case for Obama – an approach not without it’s dangers, as dealt with here by Cincinnati.com‘s Jim Borgman.

Of course, in these days of blogging, it’s now possible for a cartoonist to live-blog their drawings, like Marshall Ramsey in the Mississippi Clarion Ledger or the Politicker.com‘s Rob Tornoe. The Daily Cartoonist‘s Alan Gardener will be live-blogging the live-bloggers as the results come in tonight as well.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent