Google Trends

This is the google trends data on how much Obama, Palin, and McCain (blue is Obama, red is Palin, orange is McCain) have been searched in the last year. Apparently, the data pretty closely following polling data, right down to the quirks and the preferences during various periods. You can see the convention "bounces" for both candidates, for example. It's incredible to see that Palin's line only picks up in the last few months, around when she was announced as the veep nominee, and I'm surprised that Obama still outdoes her in searches.

The data only gets more fascinating if you go back several years. You can see spikes when Obama gave the 2004 convention speech, and when Palin won her gubernatorial race.