It Happened In 2008

The longest, most expensive (and ridiculous) presidential campaign in history ended with Barack Obama elected as the first African-American chief executive.

Hillary Clinton ran for president, and all she got was the Secretary of State job.

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska was chosen by John McCain to be his GOP running mate. She didn't need Tina Fey to remind folks why she wasn't ready to be vice-president.

Wall Street collapsed of its own weight, sending the country into a recession that had been going on for a year, anyway. The government ended up bailing out the banking and auto industries, but not the ones who buy their products.

Bernard Madoff and Tom Petters allegedly ripped off millions of dollars from unsuspecting people, and are now facing prison time.

Norm Coleman and Al Franken had the nastiest, costliest U.S. Senate campaign in Minnesota history. And it's still not over.

President Bush's standing with the masses as he fades from the rear-view mirror was so low that someone threw shoes at him, and people cheered.

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and former presidential candidate John Edwards got caught cheating on their wives. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is accused of having his hand in the cookie jar.

Britney Spears makes a comeback, as if she never left.

The Dark Knight was the big movie of the year, if only because of Heath Ledger, who died before the film was released.

The writers strike did untold damage to Hollywood. Awards shows were reduced to news conferences. The number of movies being made shrank. TV networks filled their hours with "reality" shows, while canceling half their dramas. And the actors may be next on the picket lines.

Michael Phelps swam his way to eight gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, which turned out to be unremarkable because the Chinese government wanted it that way.

On one good knee, Tiger Woods won golf's U.S. Open, then took the rest of the year off to get the other one repaired. The United States won the Ryder Cup without him, in case anyone noticed.

The city of Detroit has had its problems. Automakers nearly driven to bankruptcy, people fleeing Michigan, and the Lions go winless for an entire NFL season. But the Red Wings did win hockey's Stanley Cup.

Say goodbye to . . . W. Mark Felt ("Deep Throat"), Bernie Mac, William F. Buckley Jr., Jesse Helms, Sammy Baugh, Eartha Kitt, Harold Pinter, Sydney Pollack, Tim Russert, Charlton Heston, Bobby Fischer, Michael Crichton, Studs Terkel, Odetta, Tony Snow, Richard ("Mr.") Blackwell, Hamilton Jordan, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Bo Diddley, Sir Edmund Hillary, George Carlin, Paul Newman, Isaac Hayes, David Foster Wallace, Jim McKay, Charlie Jones, Bobby Murcer, Gene Upshaw, Herb Score, Skip Caray, Suzanne Pleshette, Harvey Korman, Eddy Arnold, Dick Martin, Jerry Reed, Jo Stafford, Jerry Wexler, Norman Whitfield, Richard Widmark.

Let's see what 2009 brings. Happy holidays, everyone.