WASHINGTON, D.C: Spot Fetcher. Nelson. Socks. Misty Malarky Ying Yang. Fala. Old Ike. These are the most powerful pets in the world.

No, they're not comic book characters. Nor are they recurring cast-members on some sketch comedy show. These are all pets - presidential pets, to be precise. That's right, these animal companions have, at some point in their lives, actually lived inside the White House.

Yes - the official home and principal workplace of the President of the United States of America, on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, is also official home and principal romping grounds of the traditional presidential pet.

The current presidential pet is Barney, one of President George W. Bush's Scottish Terriers. Barney also hangs out with fellow White House pets Miss Beazley, India "Willie" Bush the cat, and Ofelia, a Texas Longhorn cow.

Come January 2009, however, we'll be seeing an entirely new set of White House residents. Much in the same way the current 'owners' took over from Socks and Buddy (former US president Bill Clinton's own animal companions), you can probably expect a new set of cuddly creatures to boot out Barney and his buddies before they get too familiar with White House living.

According to WTOP News, some fourteen dogs, an equal number of fish, six cats, two turtles, three birds and a ferret are all 'presidential candidates' - and have a stake in who wins the White House.

Presiding over probably the most animal-friendly household of all 2008 presidential candidates is Republican Party candidate Sen. John McCain. He keeps 22 animal companions under his wing - including 13 saltwater fish, three parakeets, two dogs (Sam and Coco), two turtles (Cuff and Link), a ferret, and a cat (Oreo).

Still a little more than a year away, the 2008 US Presidential elections are already all over the media. In addition to just the traditional TV, radio and print coverage, this year, we're seeing discussion boards, campaign websites, blogs, viral videos (such as YouTube), podcasts, feeds and social networking sites (like MySpace).

Owning pets can help tremendously boost a candidate's image - probably even better than the traditional baby-kissing. In fact, Infoplease.com says that more American homes own pets than have children. And aside from pet-dominated photo opportunities, candidates often chat about their pets with voters they meet on the campaign trail- allowing them to better connect with the pet-loving American public.

And when they do make it to the White House, they soon find that it gets incredibly lonely at the top. President Harry Truman once said, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." Having a pet is an incredibly deep and important presidential tradition - only presidents Millard Fillmore and Chester Alan Arthur did not own pets.

While the White House has seen all kinds of creatures (from Calvin Coolidge's pygmy hippo to John Quincy Adams' alligator), dogs are definitely the presidential favorite. Check out The Presidential Pet Museum and Wikipedia for extensive lists on previous presidential animal companions.

Current consensus according to popular media lists Sen. Hillary Clinton, 2004 Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama as Democratic front-running candidates, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain and former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney as Republican front-runners.