Politics as Usual (Top 50 politician searches at Lycos.com)

Lycos.com ^ | 8-1-02 | Aaron Schatz

[GraniteStateConservative]

A lot of people wonder why the president of the United States doesn't show up on the Lycos 50 more often. Both President Bush and his election opponent, Al Gore, were Lycos 50 staples back in the summer of 2000, and Bush reappeared on the list after September 11.

But for the most part, Bush doesn't get enough searches to make our list. Last week, for example, President Bush was at a level about 80 percent below the #50 item on the Lycos 50, Anna Nicole Smith. He got the same number of searches as Snoop Dogg or hunting.

What about other politicians? Like Bush, none of them make the Lycos 50 (unless, say, their mistress is found dead in a park). But our nation's civil servants do make a mark on Web searches. In fact, we can even make a Political Lycos 50 of the most searched-for politicians in America.

We took all the members of Congress, all the members of Bush's cabinet, 50 governors, some ex-presidents, a couple of 2000 presidential candidates, and a couple of extra special guests (it isn't a party without Alan Greenspan) and checked out how many searches each person got in the first six months of 2002.

What will make this really interesting is that in November, we will be able to revisit some of these names to see if politicians running for re-election have found their searches increasing or decreasing in the third quarter of 2002.

Note that we've removed some politicians who share names with more well-known celebrities, including Rep. Adam Smith (WA), Rep. Jerry Lewis (CA), and someone we really wanted to track -- North Carolina senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards, whose name is similar to a prominent TV psychic.

1) George W. Bush
2) Sec. Colin Powell (State)
3) Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan
4) Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY)
5) Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft
6) Al Gore
7) Rep. Gary Condit (CA)
8) Ralph Nader
9) V.P. Dick Cheney
10) Rudy Giuliani

11) Condoleezza Rice (Bush advisor)
12) Sec. Donald Rumsfeld (Defense)
13) Sen. Tom Daschle (SD)
14) Gov. Jesse Ventura (MN)
15) Gov. Jeb Bush (FL)
16) Sen. John McCain (AZ)
17) Ari Fleischer (Bush press sec.)
18) Sen. Ted Kennedy (MA)
19) Rep Cynthia McKinney (GA)
20) Sen. Dianne Feinstein (CA)

21) Rep. Tom Davis (VA)
22) Karen Hughes (Bush advisor)
23) Sen. Trent Lott (MS)
24) Sen. Strom Thurmond (SC)
25) Mayor Mike Bloomberg (NYC)
26) Sec. Tommy Thompson (Health)
27) Gov. Gray Davis (CA)
28) Dennis Hastert (Speaker of House)
29) Rep. James Traficant (Fed. Pen.)
30) Gov. Mark Warner (VA)

31) Sen. Jesse Helms (NC)
32) Sen. Zell Miller (GA)
33) Rep. Tom DeLay (TX)
34) Gov. Rick Perry (TX)
35) Sec. Gale Norton (Interior)
36) Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA)
37) Sen. Fred Thompson (TN)
38) Sen. Phil Gramm (TX)
39) Gov. Judy Martz (MT)
40) Sen. John Rockefeller (WV)

41) Rep. Dick Armey (TX)
42) Sec. Paul O'Neill (Treasury)
43) Sen. John Kerry (MA)
44) Rep. Maxine Waters (CA)
45) Gov. Jane Swift (MA)
46) Sec. Elaine Chao (Labor)
47) Rep. Dick Gephardt (MO)
48) Sen. Joe Lieberman (CT)
49) Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (TX)
50) Sec. Spencer Abraham (Energy)

A brief note on some of the more obscure names above: Cynthia McKinney made news in April by stating that she believed President Bush had prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks and allowed them to happen because they advanced his business interests. Tom Davis heads the National Republican Congressional Committee, in charge of keeping the GOP in charge of the House in 2003.

Montana Governor Judy Martz? We have no idea.

FRIDAY: The changing tides of anime.

[GraniteStateConservative]

My guess is that Condi's numbers are skewed since many misspell her name.

[GraniteStateConservative]

"Condi 2008 bump list" ping.

[afuturegovernor]

No former presidents made the list...hmmm, interesting.