Concurrent with record turnout at the polls on Election Day, Americans turned up in big numbers online. U.S. Internet users visited Current Events and Global News sites at a rate 27% higher on Election Day than they did on the previous Tuesday. The day after the election, online buzz about President-elect Obama spiked; he was mentioned in nearly 20% of all blog posts at one point. Check out our full release outlining Nielsen Online’s final look at election 2008.

With the campaign season rapidly coming to an end, I’ve been thinking about how drastically my online and offline behavior has changed in the past few months. I am not alone in saying that I’ve been pretty consumed with election coverage since the heat of the primaries. Over the past year traffic to political sites and television viewership of partisan programming have jumped to historic levels. Most surprising, though, is that I’ve found my use of online video has skyrocketed from virtually none pre-election to daily viewing over the past month. I’ve been devoted to catching the one-liners, the outrageous gaffes and contradictions, and, of course, the popular parodies produced by SNL, the Daily Show, and other late-night comedy shows. Again, I am not alone. Total streams have increased dramatically since November 2007 to YouTube (115%), CNN (143%), and hulu (1928%–thank you Tina Fey and Sarah Palin). Overall, streams in the Online Video Market have grown by 50%.

During the first Gulf War, 24-hour cable news (specifically CNN) saw huge ratings increases and established the viability of cable news, which is now a staple of television for many Americans. Fifteen years later, we couldn’t imagine not being able to find news on television at any time of day. Might we look back at the 2008 presidential election as a catalyst for streaming video similar to what the Gulf War was for round the clock cable news? Only time will tell, but I wouldn’t bet against it.

After nearly two years of campaigning, umpteen focus groups, myriad polls, and lively discussions about plumbers, wardrobes, flag pins and, yes, even the economy…we are approaching the finish line. In the end, though, the only thing that really counts will be counted on Tuesday, as Americans head to the voting booth. But while we still could, Nielsen Online took a look at online metrics around the campaigns - including site traffic, video use and buzz. And while we eagerly await Tuesday’s outcome, we are already wondering how the 2012 campaigns will differ as it relates to the Web, video and social media in particular. We’ll be measuring!