MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN will examine the lives of the two men contending to be the 44th president of the US in two upcoming documentaries, launching CNN’s extensive political convention coverage. Both hour-long documentaries premiere the weekend before the candidates’ respective convention kicks off.

Obama Revealed airs on 23 August at 11:30 am and 7:30 pm and on 24 August at 11:30 am. McCain - Beneath the Armor airs on 30 August at 11:30 am and 7:30 pm and on 31 August at 11:30 am.

CNN International senior VP Katherine Green says, “The public rarely gets an opportunity to see presidential candidates away from the glare of the cameras, the crowds and the structured events. These documentaries offer a real insight into the lives of the candidates and those around them.”

White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux looks at Senator Barack Obama in an hour-long report that premieres on CNN International on Saturday, 23 August . Malveaux has been covering extensively the Obama presidential campaign, including traveling to Hawaii, where she’ll report on the senator’s early years. She has interviewed the candidate, his wife and his sister.

CNN's chief national correspondent John King’s report on Senator John McCain premieres on 30 August. Reporting from Arizona, Washington, DC and Vietnam, King reveals McCain’s complexities and analyses the political challenges that lay before him in the most important campaign of his life.