By now, many know that the new version of the Tiger shapefiles, TIGER2008 has been released. The directory format of this version is quite complex and very difficult to automate a download. We've already done the hard work, and are making this script available for those who wish to use it.
http://maps.huge.info/other/tiger2008-ftp-script.txt
To execute this script (from a Linux/Unix/Mac) simple key:
ftp anonymous@ftp2.census.gov < tiger2008-ftp-script.txt
Your ftp program will ask for a password, use your e-mail address. Once the program starts, be prepared to download 40,533 individual zip files with a total space of about 20 gigs. If the script aborts, check what's been downloaded, delete the last file, edit the script to start at that point and restart the process. It will probably take a couple of days to finish.