This year we clearly had politics on our minds, but even with the 2008 U.S. election season already upon us, we welcomed diversions from the famous and the infamous. As presidential hopefuls gave us their pitches, we all managed to keep up with our favorite reality shows and investigate rumors about colorful celebrities.

Except where noted, all of these searches had the largest volume on Google.com in the U.S.

Most Searched-For Candidates

Google News Most Popular Searches (global)

  1. american idol
  2. youtube
  3. britney spears
  4. 2007 cricket world cup
  5. chris benoit
  6. iphone
  7. anna nicole smith
  8. paris hilton
  9. iran
  10. vanessa hudgens

Presidential Campaign (most searched-for)

  1. ron paul
  2. fred thompson
  3. hillary clinton
  4. barack obama
  5. john edwards
  6. mitt romney
  7. john mccain
  8. joe biden
  9. bill richardson
  10. rudy giuliani

Lawsuits

  1. borat lawsuit
  2. vonage lawsuit
  3. iphone lawsuit
  4. facebook lawsuit
  5. jamie gold lawsuit
  6. pants lawsuit
  7. mcdonalds lawsuit
  8. paxil lawsuit
  9. riaa lawsuit
  10. dell lawsuit

RIP (or rumors of)

  1. anna nicole smith
  2. travis barker*
  3. vince mcmahon*
  4. chris benoit
  5. fidel castro*
  6. michael jackson*
  7. ryan sheckler*
  8. bob barker*
  9. criss angel*
  10. kurt vonnegut
*Mark Twain wasn't the only one whose death was premature; often the rumor of demise fuels a large volume of searches.