Now that we’ve had our fun with the presidential candidates – and shown them for the dogs they are -- we can move on to a more serious discussion of the election.

Today, we present the “The Animal Lovers' Voting Guide,” a look at the candidates from the perspective of an animal lover.

In this series, we'll ponder which candidate is the friendliest to animals, both domesticated and wild. We'll speculate about who's most likely to take in a stray and who's most likely to blow away a quail, who's most likely to save a species and who's most likely to endanger one.

Today, for starters, we’ll look not at their records, but inside their homes – and in one case atop their car -- to see what, if any, animals the candidates live with, how they treat them, and who could go on to become, in 2009, First Dog, First Cat, First Turtle, etc.

For how a candidate treats his dog (if he or she even has one) might be a strong indicator of how he or she will treat not just us poor lowly voters, but the non-voting animals with whom we share the world.