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Kevin Farley as Michael Malone in 'An American Carol'

"I've always been a very center-left Democrat," Zucker told USA Today. "I'm conflicted with a lot of Republicans. I don't believe nuclear power is the solution or more drilling. We have to change the cars." But Zucker, who says he'll vote for John McCain, says he still backs Bush: "I just think despite all the mistakes, we haven't had another terrorist attack. This is a tough job being president."

Taking Michael Moore's place this year as the resident election year liberal provocateur is Bill Maher, whose Religulous may not be directly about politics, but is certainly meant to offend the red state sensibility. And then there's Ridley Scott's Body of Lies, which according to The New York Times showcases the CIA's "deceptions, betrayals and dispensable attitudes toward humanity" in its operations in the Middle East.

Another highly partisan, election-year film worthy of mention is HBO's highly praised Recount (now on DVD), which revisited the chaotic days after the 2000 presidential election in Florida. Though the film angered many Democrats because it blamed Gore for letting Bush "steal" the presidency, it also served to reinforce the theory that the Republicans did, in fact, steal something, which is perfect fodder for the prevailing "Republican corruption must end!" election season theme.

Of course, this "election year" hasn't really just been a year long, but more like three. Films like Syriana (2005) kicked off a three-year span that has been riddled with left-leaning movies no doubt meant to sour viewers on Bush, Republicans, and their respective foreign policies. Countless anti-Iraq films, including Rendition (2007), Lions for Lambs (2007), In the Valley of Elah (2007), Redacted (2007) Grace is Gone (2007), and Stop-Loss (2008), have come and gone with negligible box office and cultural impact, as have the innumerable Iraq/Afghanistan documentaries, including No End in Sight (2007), Iraq in Fragments (2006), The Ground Truth (2006), and Taxi to the Dark Side (2007).

Though these films weren't well received by audiences, it is possible that their collective impact—the sheer number of films that are so critical of the Republican administration—did affect the 2006 congressional elections, which turned the tide decidedly in the Democrats' favor.

Kevin Costner in 'Swing Vote'

Sometimes the biggest election-year controversies in Hollywood are about the films that are not released. This fall, conservatives have decried the fact that the first DVD release of The Hanoi Hilton, a 1987 drama directed by conservative Lionel Chetwynd, is being held by Warner Bros. until the week after the election. The DVD features an interview of John McCain speaking about his imprisonment in the Hoa Lo prison during the Vietnam War. Saying that they wanted to avoid "electioneering," Warner Bros. has called off pre-release screenings and toned down the promotion for the film, which for decades has been a favorite of conservatives and military veterans because of its sympathetic portrayal of American prisoners of war.

That isn't the only conservative-leaning film missing from DVD shelves prior to the election. Since airing on ABC in September 2006, The Path to 9/11—a documentary written by conservative screenwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh—has never seen a DVD release. The controversy has been chronicled in the documentary, Blocking "The Path to 9/11" (released October 14 on DVD), which argues that liberals have blocked Path's DVD release in order to protect the legacy of the Clintons, who are implicated in the ABC documentary for their lackluster attention to Osama bin Laden pre-9/11.

Some election-timed films, it should be noted, are not quite so partisan, but more just reflections on the election process itself—like this summer's Swing Vote, released on August 1, which takes satirical aim at the extreme lengths politicians go to in order to garner votes. Other election-themed films to be released this month include Choose Connor, about a 15-year-old old boy who becomes a "youth campaign spokesman" for a congressman's campaign, and Frontrunners, a documentary about a New York public high school student council election touted as "a microcosm of the U.S. Presidential elections," displaying "politicking and pluralities through the lens of the adolescent experience."

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