It's hard to tell if the 2010 midterm elections produced an inordinate number of kooky candidates, or if the increasing predominance of the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle highlights a vintage of ridiculous, no-shot politicians who had in previous elections run for office in obscurity.

But whatever the reason, this election will be remembered for strange and colorful candidates, like Christine O'Donnell, Carl Paladino, Alvin Greene and Jimmy McMillan.

Since they are each headed for sure defeat today, we wanted to give one of them a chance of at least winning something.

Read on for a brief explanation of each candidate's extreme deviation from the normal, and use the comments section to remind us of any weird and wild politicians of 2010 whom we neglected to mention.

Who was the wackiest candidate in 2010?
Carl Paladino -- Candidate for New York governor66 (6.5%)
Alvin Greene -- Candidate for Senate from South Carolina 112 (11.0%)
Christine O'Donnell -- Candidate for Senate from Delaware400 (39.4%)
Jimmy McMillan -- Candidate for New York governor436 (43.0%)


Alvin Greene
Lives with his parents? Check. Unemployed? Check. Facing charges for sexual misconduct? Check. Gives the impression he could be mentally disabled during interviews? Check.

None of this mattered to the more than 100,000 voters in South Carolina's Democratic primary who punched their ballot for Greene, making him their party's nominee by a wide margin. But how could they know what an unconventional choice he was, when Greene did absolutely no campaigning and was completely ignored by the media in the run up to the primary?

We guess South Carolina's democratic voters just really like the name "Alvin Greene."

Christine O'Donnell
What can be said about Christine O'Donnell that hasn't already been said? She's the first major party candidate in the history of our republic to run television ads denying she's a witch, and the first to have once expressed her stridently anti-masturbation point of view on MTV.

No, Christine O'Donnell will not win today, but we're pretty sure we haven't seen the last of her sunny disposition and fear of mice with fully-functioning human brains. Come tomorrow she'll be back making crazy comments on various cable television news shows -- which is exactly where she belongs.

Carl Paladino
Paladino was an interesting concept: an unpolished, straight-talking, self-made billionaire who had no political experience and spoke of taking a baseball bat to New York's woefully inept and often-embarrassing state legislature.

However, the Republican's candidacy for governor of New York State quickly become a a comedy of errors and lunacy. There were allegations he enjoyed forwarding emails that featured bestiality porn, he was caught on-camera issuing Mafioso-style threats to a reporter and he made several nasty remarks about homosexuals.

Crazy Carl kept it just that way until the end, capping his campaign by walking out during the middle of a live televised debate.

Jimmy McMillan
Shockingly, Paladino wasn't even the star of the "Star Wars" cantina-like freak show that was the New York Gubernatorial Debate.

No, that would be Jimmy McMillan of The Rent is Too Damn High Party. He became an overnight national sensation with his civil war hairstyle, black gloves, rhythmic speaking technique and good sense not to stray too far from his main talking point: the rent is too damn high.

The retired postal worker and karate expert was the king of the Internet for a few days and even got spoofed on "SNL." However, his shine quickly wore off, perhaps due to the revelations that he hadn't even paid his own rent in years. (Probably because it's too damn high.)