python remove similar string with whitespace from list

import re
s = '\n \t this is a string   with a lot of whitespace\t'
s = re.sub('\s+', '', s)

a = "      yo!      "
b = a.strip() # this will remove the white spaces that are leading and trailing

>>> import re
>>> re.sub(' +', ' ', 'The     quick brown    fox')
'The quick brown fox'

' '.join(myString.split())

def strip_list_noempty(mylist):
    newlist = (item.strip() if hasattr(item, 'strip') else item for item in mylist)
    return [item for item in newlist if item or not hasattr(item, 'strip')]