Internet became dominant force in 2008 election

Like think of the hilarious Saturday Night Live skits that mocked both campaigns. Well, mostly the McCain campaign. Well, mostly Sarah Palin.

If you missed it on Saturday night, you could watch it the next day or whenever all over the web. And YouTube employees would spend countless hours removing SNL clips from their site forcing you to go to Hulu (which was no big deal).

Twists

The campaign changed every minute. And every other medium seemed dated. It couldn't keep up with all of the twists and turns.

Like when candidate Obama first mentioned the idea of "spreading the wealth around"? This gave birth to the phenomenon known as Joe the Plumber.

This phenomenon twisted and turned all the time like when news broke that he was pursuing a country music career. Or when Joe decided to audition for Secretary of State.

Remember the big hoo-hah when President Obama bought time on nearly every TV network for his prime time TV address?

Or the Sarah Palin wardrobe controversy.

Or when Joe Biden announced that an international crisis was guaranteed to happen if Obama was elected.

Then there was the one night of detente where both McCain and Obama turned into comedians at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial dinner in New York.

Influence

Of course, none of these were Internet events. But no other medium could keep up.

Nothing changed after the election. The Internet is still the place to go. And Joe Biden is still Joe Biden.

Like when he mocked the Chief Justice of the United States for flubbing the Oath of Office. If you missed it on TV, where would you go?

To read the full report, click here.

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