Frontmatter and Editorial

In lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the frontmatter and editorial: The progressively heated events surrounding the election of the of the US Democratic Party presidential candidate have led to a discursive explosion sparked and fueled by questions of gender and political power. All the more reason to update our special issue of 2006 by including Julie Biando Edwards' analysis of the gendering of the 2008 presidential race. While both Merkel's and Rodham Clinton's election campaigns have to be considered in their respective historical and discursive contexts, a transcultural cross-reading elucidates the strategies of (non-)gendered campaigning employed by Rodham Clinton, Merkel, and their male competitors respectively.