Way back in 2004, when John Kerry was challenging George W. Bush for the highest office in the land, few Americans had ever heard the word blog – let alone spent much of their free time devouring the most passionate and incisive among them.

What a difference an embattled admini- stration makes!

Today, blogging is not only the New Journalism, it’s a major force in shaping our nation’s political opinions.

So it should come as no surprise that FOX News Radio has selected eight of BlogTalkRadio’s most passionate and incisive hosts to voice their opinions about Election 2008 in the mainstream.

Beginning Monday, Oct. 6 at 2 p.m. ET, four hosts from our Heading Left Channel and four from Heading Right will square off during a weeklong, one-on-one tournament that will determine the best blog talker from each side of the political spectrum.

Election 2008: Battle of the Blog Talkers unfolds on FOX Across America, which is hosted by Spencer Hughes and carried on FOXNewsRadio.com and Sirius XM Radio. (To hear more about this special, click here now.)

Lynne Lupien: Leading off for the Left.

In Round 1, Spencer will moderate a debate between two Heading Left hosts, who will each have five minutes of uninter- rupted time to respond to the same topic. Listeners then vote (via mobile-text message and online poll) for their favorite blog talker, who in turn moves onto Round 3. Meanwhile, two Heading Right hosts square off in Round 2, with the most popular moving onto Round 4. And in Round 5, the Heading Left and Heading Right victors go head to head.

After each round, the topics will be opened to discussion with Spencer, as well as with listeners calling into the show.

Then, throughout the week of Oct. 20, live from 8 to 9 a.m. EDT, the Heading Left and Heading Right victors will join Spencer in co-hosting a special FOX News Radio Election 2008 series.

Here are the BlogTalkRadio hosts who’ll be doing battle:

Chad Everson: Ready to rumble for the Right.

Heading Left

-Lynne Lupien of Lowell, MA: Left Ahead!.

-Julie Pippert of Houston, TX: MOMocrats.

-David McLaughlin of Rome, GA: The Kudzu Vine.

-Tom D’Antoni of Portland, OR: D’Antoni and Levine.

Heading Right

-Kevin Ross of Los Angeles, CA: The Kevin Ross Show.

-Chad Everson of Princeton, MN: Grizzly Groundswell.

-Elizabeth Blackney of Bend, OR: Media Lizzy.

-Andrea Shea King of Cape Canaveral, FL: Andrea Shea King Show.

Once the war of words gets under way, we’ll be keeping your apprised of all the action, so - in addition to tuning into this historic series - be sure to check in here daily.