Unquestionably, 2008 was underscored by Barack Obama, who was elected the 44th U.S. president to become the first African-American president in our nation’s history; no suprise then he was selected Time Magazine's  ``Person of the Year'', and most recently voted the top story of the year on Election Night by U.S. editors and news directors in the Associated Press’ annual poll. 
        And if you surveyed editors’ at the Big Three: The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal-- they too, would most likely tell us (although I can’t verify it for sure) the historic presidential election was the story that drove the most traffic on their websites for the year.
        It is interesting to note, however, if you survey the top stories of the year from websites that are not so conventional or mainstream, there were some other noteworthy stories that caught the eye of online news junkies.
        Here then is a random sampling of other popular stories of 2008, voted not by editors, but based on the volume of web traffic.

        • At The Huffington Post, for example, Sarah Palin’s lavish spending was the most popular piece, which collected the most page views, while the Republican vice presidential candidate’s bikini photos  was the blog post with the most page views-979 million to be exact..

        • At Media Bistro, the shocking news of NBC ``Meet the Press’’ host Tim Russert, dying from a heart attack at age 58 was the story that received the most reaction of the year.

        • American author, playwright, and screenwriter, David Mamet’s election essay: ``Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'’  earned the most page views on the Village Voice website on March 11th.
     NOTE: Here are the Village Voice’s Top 10 most viewed stories of the year.

        • On the Smoking Gun website, a mug shot just recently posted (December 17th), showing a woman being booked , displaying some rather innovative sign language techniques was the most popularly viewed item of the year, followed closely by The Los Angeles Times  being  duped by a federal inmate, linking Sean "Diddy" Combs to the 1994 ambush of Tupac Shakur.

        • The story about a Rhode Island couple living in a mall was Salon’s most popular item for the year.

        • ``The Day John McCain Lost the Election’’, an essay by Daniel Gross, attributing the Arizona senator’s sound defeat to the sagging economy received the most page views on Slate’s website.
            NOTE:  Here are Slate’s Top 10 most popular stories of the year.

        • ``30 Rock’’star Tina Fey pictured with John McCain on the cover of Life Magazine in 2004 was the most popular item of the year on Jim Romensko’s blog from the Poynter Institute, a widely read blog which posts the latest developments within the newspaper industry.
        NOTE:  Here are Romensko's10 most popular items for 2008

        • Google, meanwhile, posted their most popular search terms of 2008,  which shows Sarah Palin, the fastest rising search term around the globe, followed by ``Beijing 2008'', and Facebook.

***
        But since 2008, after all, was the year of politics--it is only fitting to end this post by listing the most popular political videos of the year on YouTube.

        1.)  A musical artist puts together a video about Barack Obama: ``Yes We Can’’

        2.) ``I Got A Crush… on Obama’’ by  Obama Girl

        3.)  Vote Different –a widely discussed video about the Democratic primary race

        4.) Texas Congressman Ron Paul visits a college dorm room

        5.) Jeremiah Wright’s ``God Damn America ''sermon

        6.) John McCain compares Barack Obama to celebrity pop tarts: Britney Spears and Paris Hilton

        7.)  Sarah Palin’s  acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention 

        8.) ``McCain’s Girls’’ whip a ditty in honor of the Republican Presidential candidate.

        -Bill Lucey
         billlucey@bellsouth.net