Palin still fascinates Internet surfers

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is one of most popular subjects for Internet searches, even after the decisive defeat of the Republican ticket, statistics show.

Palin, the former GOP U.S. vice presidential nominee, is second only to President-elect Barack Obama among politicians who are the subjects of Internet queries on the Lycos search engine, Politico reported Sunday.

"People are still searching for her in record numbers," Kathy O'Reilly, a spokeswoman for Lycos, told the publication. "How bizarre is that? Obama is the president-elect after the most historic election of all time and you'd think he would be dominating search activity and he only now is going ahead of her."

The fascination with Palin is continuing unabated after the election, Internet figures showed. She was the No. 2 top news search at Ask.com last week and No. 2 (after Obama) among newsmakers on the AOL 2008 year-end hottest searches list, Politico said.

"As long as she's still in the mainstream media, it will continue to fuel her presence online," said Phil Noble, president of PoliticsOnline. "The other issue is that at some point people become permanent celebrities. She may have just reached that status."