UPDATE: In light of Hurricane Ike, Obama has decided to cancel this appearance.

Let the political season officially begin.

Although it’s still unclear who Saturday Night Live will choose for their key political roles, we now know which candidate will be stopping by Rockefeller Plaza first: Barack Obama.

It’s just been announced that the Democratic presidential candidate will be appearing on the show’s 34th season premiere. Obama will just one of the high-profile guests this weekend. Olympic phenom Michael Phelps is also scheduled to host.

This will not be Barack’s first visit to the NBC studio. He last participated in a Halloween sketch back in November 2007. I wouldn’t be surprised to see John McCain in the upcoming weeks as well. The Republican nominee has made several cameos on the program already. (You can see one of those clips after the jump.)

In other SNL political news, it’s been widely-speculated that two former cast members might be making surprise appearances during this election period. Lorne Michaels recently confirmed that he is in talks with Tina Fey to play Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Meanwhile, the show’s creator also admitted that he would love lure back Maya Rudolph for any Michelle Obama-related sketches.

We’ll see how this all unfolds when Saturday Night Live returns this Saturday, September 13.