As for the OP, already mentioned, but just list years on your resume. If it ends up like my job search, you will get many requests from recruiters to provide the months of employment, so you send them an update at that point. If the rest of the content of your resume is good enough to pass muster, they WILL make the effort to request this from you - for the most part. Some probably won't, but there are also some that would disqualify you for a gap from Jan 2009 to Dec 2009 and not even call in the first place. In the US, most hiring managers understand the issues of 2008-2012. If they don't, you probably don't want to work there anyway.
As for the rest, there is no 100% correct answer - but my recent experience (four new jobs since 2009) tells me that your online electronic profile is the most important thing.
My last few years:
1/2009 - laid off from tier-1 auto supplier due to financial meltdown
5/2009 - contract to perm job with defense contractor
7/2009 - laid off from defense contractor when they didn't win project
5/2010 - hired as QM for family owned company. ~40% less than old salary
8/2011 - quit to take contract job closer to home, more money, better chance for advancement, back to my 2009 salary
7/2012 - laid off when all contract jobs eliminated and hiring freeze enacted due to poor cash flow
8/2012 - accepted current job, from three offers the same week - big pay increase, better benefits and back on track to where I would have been had the financial/automotive meltdown not hit.
In every case, the job found me online. Both of the good offers I had last summer were from headhunters that had good relationships with the HR departments at the companies. The third was an online job I had dumped a generic resume to - they low-balled the salary and did a bait and switch to a contract job after the interview. I still get a half dozen calls a week from my linked-in profile and old resumes floating out there that have not been updated in a year.