Google Taps Zeitgeist, Finds Palin a Winner

(NEWSER) - Traditional media outlets and on-the-spot amateurs alike captured the year's biggest US political moments. Here is Politico's look at some of the biggest scoops:

• Palin meets Couric: Interviewed by Katie Couric on CBS, Sarah Palin fumbled with softball questions such as which publications she reads. Democrats and Tina Fey pounced.
• Edwards indulges: Major media outlets ignored a report of John Edwards' extramarital affair, but the National Enquirer caught him in the act.

Web offers chance to poke fun, change a few minds

(NEWSER) - Viral election videos offer campy calls for change, seamless special effects, and more than a few celebrity cameos. Laughs aside, “over the past decade they’ve also impacted politics—sometimes changing the course of elections and frequently providing a few laughs in an otherwise wonky world,” Jeffrey Ressner writes in picking Politico's top 10 of '08.

1. Yes We Can: Will.i.am’s minimalist all-star Obama tribute "may be the most creative video of any type to emerge this year.”
2. Dear Mr. Obama: An injured Iraq veteran explains why war is a good thing.

Asked about losing to Barack Obama while in India

(NEWSER) - Republicans might have fared better in 2008 if Sarah Palin was atop the ticket—suggests Sarah Palin. While speaking today at the India Today Conclave, the former Alaska governor was asked why Republicans couldn't defeat Barack Obama in the election, reports the Hill . She tipped her hat to Obama's strong campaign, and said he was able to convincingly bill himself as a change candidate. When India Today's editor then argued that she also represented change, Palin said, "I wasn't at the top of the ticket, remember?" Palin says she wasn't claiming she should have been the nominee. More»

And yes, there's a Sarah Palin character

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's 2008 campaign is the subject of Hope!, a musical set to premiere Jan. 17 in Frankfurt. The production features musical-theater versions of the major players: Michelle, Hillary—looking quite young—John McCain and even Sarah Palin, who sings a solo surrounded by scantily clad dancers. Writer and composer Randall Hutchins, who is American, tells Der Spiegel he got the idea for the production "right at the start of Obama's electoral campaign. I found the atmosphere exciting and that was my inspiration." More»

Calls birth certificate hoopla 'stupid conspiracy' theory

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin backpedaled mightily today on her comments that it was “fair” to question the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate. On a radio show yesterday, Palin said voters were “rightfully making it an issue.” But at 1am today, a posting appeared on her Facebook page titled “Stupid Conspiracies." In it, the writer clarifies that though voters “have every right” to ask about the certificate, Palin wasn’t personally doing so. More»