In the new world of instantaneous, electronic news fueled by legions of citizen journalists posting relentlessly on a seemingly endless variety of blogs, let me make one thing clear: Nothing is clear.

Politics have long been as much about obfuscation as they are leadership and image, and when it comes to trying to follow it on the Internet, the former becomes oh so much more powerful, if not simply because of the mass of information and misinformation out there on the Web.

Of course, that doesn't stop me - or tens of millions of others - to scour the Web daily for those remnants of the neo-news, near-truths and possibly semi-accurate rumors.

It's almost sport.

Will I make my election decisions on the information I find? Oh, heavens, I certainly hope not. But if I do, I certainly won't be the only one.

Mostly, I scour the Web to try to placate my curiosity piqued by those who faithfully post to our Rapid Reply feature on www.rapidcityjournal.com. Certainly, some of it must be true.

Here are some of the favorite political rumors I've been finding recently that probably need a little more clarification and investigation.

5. Obama speaks about his 'Muslim faith'

The most persistent mistruth and attempt at smearing any of the candidates that has been posted through Rapid Reply is the endless attempt to portray Barack Obama as a Muslim.

Whether outright - talking about a Muslim upbringing that was prominently instilled in him - or sublime - constantly referring to him as Barack Osama Obama - my hand has grown weary of rejecting what seems like an endless stream of reader comments seeking to impugn the Democratic nominee for president.

Of course, he didn't help himself - or my mouse hand - this past weekend when he inadvertently referred to "my Muslim faith" in an interview on a TV news show. The Rapid Repliers were out in full force come Monday morning.

That being said, the concept of context is lost on the sledgehammer approach taken by a majority of the Rapid Reply crowd. Obama was in the midst of describing the onslaught of misconceptions about his Christian faith and the persistent effort by the right to paint him as a Muslim or a Muslim-sympathizer when he made the slip.

4. Is John McCain a natural born citizen?

This is one of my favorite non-issue issues of the campaign.

There has been a number of blogs and politicos who have at least raised the question that McCain might not be eligible to become president of the United States because he was born on foreign soil at the Panama Canal.

It gets even more interesting when one considers that he was born before a Congressional act retroactively made all residents born at the Panama Canal since 1904 official U.S. citizens.

Now, do I think this will endanger his run for office? Not at all, especially considering who would question a man who spent years as a POW in Vietnam as a true American?

The real question, though, is whether others can question it. It appears that legally speaking, an everyday Joe voter would not be able to challenge his "natural-born" status in court.

3. Palin's stance - for or against - the bridge to nowhere

There's plenty of rumors when it comes to John McCain's vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin. There's the blatantly false, such as the fake nude photograph of the former beauty pageant contestant that made the rounds on the Inernet or that the Palins each had affairs, or that their son is a meth dealer. And a very popular one on Rapid Reply that she faked her pregnancy for her daughter having a love child.

But there are some rumors that at least lend an air of truth, such as the so-called "Troopergate" investigation into the controversial firing of a state police commissioner that had once been an in-law of Palin's.

But the flavor d'jour in the lightning-rod-of-a-candidate's brief but intense time in the limelight is a long favorite topic in the contiguous 48 - Ted Stevens' baby, the bridge to nowhere.

Palin has made it her battle cry as her primary credential as a reformer, a person who is above the politics of Washington. Her opponents have railed against the claims, with Barack Obama going on the offensive to note that Palin long supported Stevens' pet project before the writing was on the wall and then conveniently jumped the fence to publicly blast the project.

Of course, Stevens himself says that she had opposed him the whole way. Die hard Palin supporters will say it's enough to put an end to the issue. Die hard Palin opponents will simply say Stevens is in on the conspiracy.

The rest of will sit firmly in the gray with no hope of getting any measure of truth, subject to endless accusations and counter accusations that regard the truth as an essential element of politics in the same manner that a drunken driver considers an adequate police presence on the street as essential to his safe drive home.

2. Biden's tales of the imaginary drunken driver

And speaking of drunken drivers, Joe Biden needs to remove them from his political speeches.

Apparently, Biden has repeated the tale of how a drunken driver was responsible for the tragic accident that killed his wife and baby daughter and left his two sons in the hospital back in 1972.

It has been offered as fact in stories by the New York Times and on NPR, but investigators on scene found otherwise. The driver, Curtis C. Dunn, who died nearly a decade ago, was cleared of any wrongdoing.

His daughter has said she has been traumatized by the replaying of the clips of Biden saying the driver was drunk. In fact, investigators said it was possible that Biden's wife turned her head and didn't see the oncoming truck as she pulled into traffic.

1. The Clintons' marriage on the rocks

Let's be honest. Even in defeat, Hillary Clinton is still by far the most fascinating figure in the 2008 election season.

Of course, she has years of practice. The mass of rumors attached to the senator from New York accounts for something like 12 percent of all material on the Internet. OK, maybe I exaggerate a little, but you get the idea.

So the fact that she remains a figure in the election months after she has threw in the towel is no surprise. The latest rumors are nothing new, either.

According to a report by The Telegraph, the marriage between Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is on the rocks. Now, this story could have run any time in the past decade and it wouldn't have a different headline, or at least only a slightly different one.

What is fascinating is the little part about the Two Chicks Chatting blog that features the combined literary efforts of Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones. Hey, who needs the Huffington Post when you have something like this?