This was a wild year for editorial cartoonists! There was too much news! The economy crashed; we had a wild campaign season and the election of the first African American President; gas prices went through the roof and house prices went through the floor; we had wars, the Olympics, and delightful scandals like sanctimonious presidential candidate John Edwards’ affair and New York’s arrogant governor Eliot Spitzer visiting prostitutes. There was just too much this year, and it has made editing our annual book a tough job!

This is book is a history book. Editorial cartoons are a mirror on our society. Cartoonists don’t just chronicle events; we reflect the feelings of our readers as they react to events in the world around them. We think our annual Best Political Cartoons of the Year book is the best history book of all. Cartoons might first seem to be shallow and funny, but they are really a thoughtful survey of our culture, our emotions, our spirit, and our times.

We edit this book with no political point of view in mind. We try to show a broad range of perspectives and styles as we cram as much content as we can into our 288 little pages. The cartoonists featured here are the best the profession has to offer, and complete archives of their recent work can be found on our Web site at www.cagle.com, updated every day as new cartoons come in. We would also encourage our readers to visit our cartoon and columnist site at www.caglepost.com, the best commentary site on the Web. To run our cartoons in your publication, Web site, newsletter, or on t-shirts or mugs, visit our store site at www.politicalcartoons.com. Newspapers subscribe to our cartoon package service at www.caglecartoons.com. When you finish our book, visit us for more cartoons online.