Election 2008 hasn't just been dirty, it's been downright smutty

This election cycle began with the YouTube sensation of Obama Girl shaking her barely clad backside in support of the junior senator. It's ending with Larry Flynt's release of Nailin' Paylin, an adult film based loosely on the life and times of "Caribou Barbie," our Republican vice presidential nominee.

During this seemingly never-ending election cycle, we've seen the introduction of VPILF into our political lexicon, ogled candid shots of Obama in a swimsuit, listened to McCain offer up his wife for a topless, banana-fellating biker beauty pageant. and Photoshopped Sarah Palin into an American flag bikini.

Forget accusations of mudslinging and dirty tricks: This has been the smuttiest presidential campaign in American history.

But with record voter registration and turnout in the primaries, it looks like America's never been more satisfied with the level of discourse. Maybe that's the beautiful thing about America. When you put democracy in the hands of its citizens, they'll turn around and make you a democracy-themed sex tape.

It is, after all, the first presidential election in YouTube's short lifetime, and Americans have enthusiastically embraced the medium of amateur video to take swings at the presidential candidates. (YouTube! It's not just for amateur pornography or awkward lip syncs anymore.)

From moveon.org's "Not Alex" to shoddily done Joe the Plumber parodies, ordinary Americans have given themselves more face time with the media than vice presidential candidates have given press conferences. And there's one reoccurring theme in most of the user-generated political commentary: Sex. Mixed with humor.

Ben Relles, creator of barelypolitical.com and a man who's made it his personal mission to ensure that every candidate has their own bikini-clad representative, says he got the idea for Obama Girl by "looking at what was really popular online. Girls were really popular, and so was humor. So we thought Obama Girl would be really popular, too." You don't say.

She really was—with people from every political stripe. According to Relles, he's met Republicans who were just as excited about meeting Obama Girl as Democrats. And after recently pairing her with Ralph Nader, he's heard from many an appreciative Green Party follower as well.

In fact, the difference in what appeals to people seems to have less to do with if they're Republicans or Democrats and more to do with how old they are—the younger they are, the more enthusiastic they are for somewhat ribald takes on the election.

"We've put out about 150 videos, and often someone says, 'I'm a hardcore Republican and this video cracked me up,'" says Relles. "The idea was that the same people that follow politics are the people that like comedy and buy Maxim magazine. What we were trying to do initially was create a type of political comedy that wasn't highbrow, to basically be, as our name says, barely political. That tends to be less divisive than when you've got an agenda and one candidate that you are really pushing for. Sex appeals to all kinds of people across the board—as does humor."