Google tool lets you track John McCain and Barack Obama

So, you want to know where John McCain and Barack Obama have been on the campaign trail? Where they've been in their lives? Google has a new toy tool that lets political junkies get cartographic.

Our colleagues over on the Technology blog have the details and a deeper explanation of Google's intent to have people adapt the tool for their own uses.

But there already are a lot of different ways to play with it. This, for instance, shows you the McCain and Obama campaign trails. This is a "bio map" of McCain, and this is of Obama. The Twitterati have got one going. So far, nada for tracking delivery of late-night pizza to various campaign headquarters, or kitchens where couples are arguing Obama versus McCain. But you just know that's coming sometime.

A personal favorite: Huffington Post's fundraising map. See if you can spot yourselves in there.

-- Scott Martelle

Barack Obama dumps Scarlett Johansson! Denies e-mail relationship

Let's just state right up front that if Scarlett Johansson was chattering publicly to even one person, let alone a media crowd, that we had any kind of relationship, The Ticket would in a nano-heartbeat confirm totally whatever she said. She'd be dead-on in our minds, indubitably.

That's partly why we were so down -- well, devastated really -- a couple of weeks ago when The Ticket learned and wrote that Scarlett -- we call her that because we've never actually met -- was talking publicly about her ongoing relationship with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

According to Scarlett, who's a fervent Obama supporter with phone calls and fundraisers and everything, the two of them were going at it pretty hot and heavy with the e-mails, back-and-forth and back-and-forth and back-and-forth.

And all of us, including Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett's alleged fiance, were left to guess exactly what might be in those electronic missives.

We learned of the Obama-Johansson relationship, as we learn of most important things, from our fellow LATimes.com blogger Elizabeth Snead over at the Dish Rag. Because of our nonexistent....

Top of the Ticket, the start of Year Two

On this, the first anniversary of our Top of the Ticket blog, we are reminded of the mercurial, unpredictable nature of U.S. politics -- part of what makes what we do so fascinating.

Our goal -- one of us on the East Coast and the other on the far more important or at least less humid West Coast -- was to write about Campaign '08 virtually around the clock.

Our second-ever posting, 12 months ago today, previewed an upcoming L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll; later in the day, we detailed the results of the nationwide survey. The findings were in line with other polls of the time.

In the Republican presidential race, which then seemed the most likely to last deep into the primary season, Rudy Giuliani was perched in first place. His lead wasn't overwhelming, but it was strong enough that he appeared certain to remain a major contender.

His liberal record on social issues loomed as an obvious liability within his party, but his tough-on-terrorism message was attracting substantial support from moderates and GOP-leaning independents.

His major headache among rivals last June was an as-yet-undeclared candidate who was riding a wave as the great conservative hope -- Fred Thompson. He ran a strong second in the poll.

Lagging far behind were John McCain and Mitt Romney, each barely with double-digit support. In our preview posting, we were especially scornful of McCain, noting sarcastically (and foolishly, as it turned out) that in the poll, he found himself "in heated competition with the 'Don't Know' category."

Meriting no mention from us was Mike Huckabee, one of several back-of-the-pack candidates barely earning any support across the country.

The Democratic race, at that point, seemed so much more cut-and-dried.

Hillary Clinton was the clear front-runner; Barack Obama was just as clearly ...

Today! McCain, Obama, Clinton final political news-election results via Ticket Twitter

You know, today is the last day of primaries. (Yes, we know AP says Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination by delegates, but there are still real votes to be voted.)

Just like spring, election day comes kinda late to Montana and South Dakota. And they really are the final ones. No, really.

And then almost immediately -- well, five months from tomorrow -- comes the general election on Nov. 4. So you better hurry and sign up for instant results via Ticket Twitter for tonight and beyond.

Had you already signed up for Twitter, you would have known about Obama clinching through a special news tweet. 

And, of course, by signing up you also get automatic notification of every new Ticket item as it's posted.

Look how excited someone's new grandson named Charlie is about the prospect of automatically getting election results Twittered to his Fisher play cellphone.

And he could have received news of Hillary Clinton's walloping of Barack Obama in Kentucky a whole lot quicker had he been a Ticket Twitter subscriber -- and born then. But he was otherwise occupied elsewhere. (Yes, that's his personal halo hanging nearby.)

Also, Charlie doesn't want to miss one moment of Rep. Ron Paul's surge now that he's within almost 1,300 delegates of catching Sen. John McCain for the Republican nomination in St. Paul. (Honest, that's where the GOP meets come September.)

For existing Twitterers, go to http://twitter.com/latimestot

Click Follow. Enroll there for alerts on every new Ticket item AND our instant, breaking-news election results whenever and wherever anyone is voting on the U.S. presidency. And it's all free, of course.

For about-to-be Twitter folks, think of it as text message headlines to any mobile device. Go here to enroll (also free). Click on Join, not surprisingly.

And join.

Once again, on this final primary election day and all the ordinary campaign days in between until the Bitter End when everyone has made their Thanksgiving airline reservations and winced at the new prices, we're going to have all the political news and election result updates for our Twitter subscribers. (Actually, to be honest, we'll be here well beyond Nov. 4 chronicling formation of a new presidential administration and the political fallout in the losing party.)

With notice of each regular Ticket posting.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Photo Credit: Grandpa 

NEW! Ticket Twitter. Clinton, McCain, Obama political news to cells, BBs, e-mail. Now. Free.

Boy, have we got something new for you. See how excited even the former first lady is about it?

This is a two-part item:

1) You can now get The Ticket via Twitter. For existing Twitterers, go to http://twitter.com/latimestot

Click Follow. Enroll there for alerts on every new Ticket item AND our instant, breaking-news election results starting with the next election, which seems like No. 137, doesn't it? It's all free, of course.

2) For about-to-be Twitter folks, think of it as text message headlines to any mobile device. Go here to enroll (also free). Click on Join, not surprisingly.

And join.

Once again, on election day Tuesday, like every election day, we're going to have election result updates all evening for our Twitter subscribers.

You can see here how happy Democratic presidential candidate and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is upon receiving word that she's been accepted as a Ticket newsletter and Twitter subscriber.

Now, the RSS crowd shouldn't feel left out. To set up your feed of Ticket blog items, go to this page, scroll down to the box in the middle titled "Hottest Campaign News." And choose your reader.

And right above it is another box: "Campaign 08 Newsletter."

Click there to receive our nightly e-mail Politics newsletter. It's full of the newest LATimes.com stories and the freshest Ticket items posted since you fell asleep watching that warehouse in Kansas burn and woke up at 2 to the voice of Lindsay who's-its praising her favorite mattress. (By the way, if it's such a great mattress, why is she always awake at that hour?)

Click here to bookmark The Ticket and check us often. This is such an unusual and exciting election season, we're basically blogging The Ticket around the clock with all kinds of unpredictable items. You never know when we might find something fresh or funny and post it at any hour. (Just look when Don posted his Pennsylvania preview before us this morning!)

You don't want people to look at you strangely in the street and be thinking, "That sure doesn't look like a Ticket reader." You want to be as happy and informed as Hillary. And now it's even easier.

-- Andrew Malcolm