Is it bidirectional?

As I was reading about the upcoming Canadian federal election -- announced on September 7, 2008 and to be held on October 14, 2008 (year included to make a point) -- it hit me that the United States presidential election on November 4 has dominated the news for about a year, even here in Canada. Moreover, many Canadian news services still carry more information about the U.S. election than about the Canadian one, despite the U.S. freak show being half a month more distant and being year-old news. Weird.

I guess my question is this: Does the Canadian election even rate on the radar of the average American? I can name the two tickets in the U.S. election -- Obama/Biden (D) and McCain/Palin (R) -- without hitting Google, but can the average American name the leaders of Canada's major political parties? Can the average American name the parties? I'm just curious.

I'd get into issues except that I know most Canadians aren't even up to speed on the ones here at home . . .