Unlike Al Gore and George W Bush, St Chad's conduct during a disputed election helped him on his way to sainthood.

Now, the website of his parish church in England is being inundated by Americans interested in a less holy chad, the bits of paper punched out of American ballots. The Washington Times joked that with the current obsession with dimpled and pregnant chads in Florida's recounting process, St Chad would made an excellent patron saint of disputed elections. The 7th century saint's life was an example to those involved in the US presidential election. The Northumbrian cleric stepped down as bishop of the region in 669 after his ordination was challenged by a new Archbishop of Canterbury. Chad had been chosen by the king of Northumbria after the previous candidate failed to return from his ordination in France. But with no courts to resort to, Chad's humility was recognised by the archbishop and he was eventually installed as the first bishop of Lichfield, now in Staffordshire. Since the story was printed in American papers, US internet users have been following links on politics and news websites and arriving at the website for the Lichfield church. Numbers visiting the site have increased from four a day to more than 300.