Tuesday's inaugural festivities were as close to a must-see civic event as our nation as seen in almost 30 years. At least until American Idol came along later Tuesday night.

Choke on the history, America: After 62 days of counts and recounts, a Saturday Night Live alumnus has officially been elected to represent an actual state in the US Senate.

Join us in looking back at the trends, names, faces, places and unhinged absurdity that made our Defamer Decides 2008 coverage an unparalleled historical record of American presidential politics at its finest.

Congratulations to U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, who has overcome his narrow Election Day deficit to claim victory in Minnesota over Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. According to Al Franken.

After all our trouble wrangling up moving boxes and change-of-address forms, Stephen Baldwin has officially reversed his decision to relocate to Canada. Reports this morning say that the bitter Republican convert was just joking about that pre-election pledge to head north in the instance of a Barack Obama victory,…

And I'm Barack Obama: The post-election afterglow scored a direct hit last night on 60 Minutes, where the President-elect and wife Michelle's rangy hour-long interview with Steve Kroft drew 24 million viewers. The 6.4 rating is the newsmagazine's highest in nine years, and what did we learn? There will be Republicans…

Amazingly, Norm Coleman's wafer-thin lead over Al Franken in Minnesota's Senate race continues to erode, with the latest numbers suggesting the former SNL star now trails his Republican foe by exactly one-half vote. (The single ballot bears a crescent moon inside a GOP circle, accompanied by the perplexing message,…

Why So Audacious? Perhaps we spoke too soon about the tenuous connection between The Dark Knight and The President-Elect, as we've just stumbled upon this Obama-evoking Joker design from artist James Lillis. It's no DJ AM, but it'll do. Click through for full-size. [/film]

An estimated 10,000 marchers descended on Westwood last hour to protest the passage of Proposition 8, leading to a bust of outrage large enough to encircle the Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Blvd. before overtaking the thoroughfare itself. Streaming live footage from KNBC features a mostly peaceful protest to date,…

It's never too early in Oscar season to feast on half-baked pundit delicacies like those of Dave Karger, the Entertainment Weekly awards maven who earns a living composing items like today's "How Obama Helps Batman." But even despite its modest size and airy texture, this morsel is next to impossible to get down…

This may replace holograms as Election Night's most stunning TV accomplishment: While the rest of us were recognizing the historic evening with a drink or 20, the South Park foremen cranked their assembly line into perversely high gear with animated snippets from both Barack Obama and John McCain's campaign-ending…

We know, we know: as you've read through our raft of election-related stories, your anxiety mounted as the pressing question, "But what does Larry Flynt think about all this?" remained unanswered. Now, though, you can relax, as an email has landed in our inbox entitled, "HUSTLER Publisher Larry Flynt’s Statement On…

Last night's election coverage had it all: Holograms! Crying Oprah! A Michelle Obama dress we weren't too crazy about, but we think we like it better today? Anyway, the point is that there was something for almost everybody, and to judge from the new, complete ratings (with all cable networks added in), almost…

This just in! An e-mail, subject heading, "Seal Extends His Congratuations to President Barack Obama + New Official Widget!" has exciting news for everyone: