Wikipedia and the 2008 US elections/Manual of style for top pages

The "top pages" (that address a particular article) should have a consistent style and flow, in order to produce the most readable results. Substituted templates can be used to create a basic structure that can then be filled in and expanded upon.

Graphics

Most pages should have an infobox (Template:Wikipedia and the 2008 US elections-ibox), including:

1. when the article was first created
2. when the subject of the article first became notable in the context of the election
3. a photo, if available and appropriate
4. timeline graphic marking the period(s) when the subject of the article was notable
5. total number of article and talk page edits from the beginning of the election until the inauguration
6. how many times was the article protected, brought up on a noticeboard, AfDed, etc.

A more detailed timeline would also be good with edits by day, week, or month, sorted by:

1. anon, user, and sysop
2. content edits, minor edits (copyedits and so on), reverted edits, vandal edits, reverted vandal edits
3. mark major campaign events on the timeline to see if there is any correlation between number of edits and news events

Basic questions

1. was the article started as a stub? if so, how long did it take to lose the stub tag?
2. did wikipedia have an article on the subject before the election? if so, compare the article before and after
3. were daughter articles created? if so, when? were all of the daughter articles kept?
4. what was the relationship between talk page edits and article edits?
5. were there edit wars? if so, what were they about, and did they coincide with campaign events?
6. was the article protected or placed under probation? if so, why and for how long?
7. did the campaigns themselves edit the articles?
8. was the article itself ever in the news?