How much irony do you want?
Al Gore and George W. Bush, both hoping to be the next president, climb this week to their highest rankings ever: #6 and #7. But right behind them is the woman who nearly brought down the last president: Paula Jones. Call it "neck and neck" if you like.
Let's take the case of Ms. Jones first. She's suddenly popular because she's posing nekkid in the latest Penthouse magazine, which also features an article alleging she was egged on by conservative cronies who wanted to get Bill Clinton. (Duh.) It's not the first time Jones has appeared naked in Penthouse; a few years back the magazine published photos passed on by an old boyfriend.
Bush and Gore (neither of whom has posed naked) are astonishingly close in search numbers this week, as close as they seem to be in public opinion polls.
In our weekly comparison of campaign 2000 searches, Gore queries led Bush queries by the slimmest margin we've seen so far: 50.3% to 49.7%. That's more than a 2 point gain for Bush over last week.
But wait! This week third-party candidate Ralph Nader also hits the Lycos 50 at #40 -- his first appearance ever. In a three-way race for search queries Nader gets 10.9%, Bush 44.3%, and Gore ends up with 44.8%. Nader is looking more and more like a legitimate spoiler as time goes on; it's going to be a close race.
Other key points from this week's Lycos 50:
JACK-O-LANTERN TECH SUPPORT: Pumpkin carving is the latest Halloween-related term to make the Lycos 50. It came on suddenly strong last week. Most users seemed to be looking for design tips; the popular searches included pumpkin patterns, pumpkin designs, and pumpkin carving templates.
Macabre author Edgar Allan Poe also rode the Halloween wave onto the Lycos 50, landing at #38. Poe's three most-searched works were (in order) The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum.
DI-WHAT? Diwali (#29) is the Hindu festival of lights, celebrated this year on October 26th. More than 50% of all Diwali searches were for cards and electronic messages -- perhaps Indian expatriates sending greetings back home?
CHICKS WHIP WITCH: The fist-fighting chicks of Charlie's Angels (#32) may not have ruled the boxoffice, but they were the most-searched movie online last week. Another new opener, Blair Witch II: Book of Shadows, couldn't crack the 50. The original Blair Witch was one of the great Web fads of 1999.
WORLD SERIES A YAWNER? The all-New York World Series didn't seem to generate much interest online this week. Baseball (which includes all World Series queries) drops this week to #15. The Mets and the Yankees, #37 and #45 last week respectively, fell off the list entirely.
SHORT SUBJECTS: The Firestone tire recall is off our list again after a one-week renaissance... all those searches for the death penalty (#26) are probably students writing reports, possibly assisted by the hubbub over George W. Bush's Texas prison policies... Pamela Anderson drops to #28, her lowest rating ever -- could she be headed off our list?... Elizabeth Hurley (#9) is hot thanks to her movie Bedazzled and also due to lingering controversy over her crossing SAG picket lines to film a cosmetics commercial... two dependable teens drop off the list this week: teen warbler Christina Aguilera is off the Lycos 50 for the first time in 44 weeks, and tennis star Anna Kournikova is gone after 22 weeks. (Ironically, the same week in which she almost won her first tournament.)
NEW THIS WEEK: Paula Jones, pumpkin carving, the death penalty, Diwali, Day of the Dead, Charlie's Angels, rap lyrics, Edgar Allan Poe, Ralph Nader, anime hit Gundam Wing.
DROPOUTS: New York Yankees, New York Mets, NASA, Anna Kournikova, Christina Aguilera, presidential debates, Greek mythology, the Firestone tire recall, Jessica Alba, the U.S.S. Cole.
BIGGEST RISE: Elizabeth Hurley, up 34 to #9.
BIGGEST DROP: The periodic table, down 18 places to #30.
AND FINALLY: In a closely-watched battle of holiday icons, Dracula edged Santa Claus in user queries. The tally was nearly as close as Gore-Bush, with 51.3 of the "vote" going to Dracula and 48.7 going to Kris Kringle.
