LOS ANGELES - The U.S. election has become personal.

Even on the Web, voters are looking at the personal lives of the candidates with the kind of eye for minutiae typically reserved for stars, said Bill Tancer, of Internet tracking company Hitwise.

Last month, the top 10 Web search terms for Obama and McCain included requests for information about family members, Obama's height and for images from Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's days as a beauty queen contestant.

Those types of searches outnumber campaign issues such as the economy, according to Hitwise. "Right now it looks like people are focused on the image of the candidates," he said.

A fractured media landscape with countless TV channels appealing to niche audiences has also forced the candidates to leave a politician's comfort zone and appear on talk shows and comedy programs, experts said.

This year, politicians are appearing on daytime and late night chat shows to reach a broader group of voters than they would via political programs, and Web search services report people looking for qualities in candidates that have more to do with their lifestyles than their campaign platforms.

"The power of celebrity is playing a greater role, not in celebrities (endorsing) the candidates. It's the celebrity aspect of the candidates themselves," said Robert Thompson, a professor of media and pop culture at Syracuse University.

Obama's early appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" helped vault him to early prominence, although since he has been a declared candidate he has not been on her program.

Last week, he put in an appearance on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and tried to clarify his "lipstick on a pig" remark that raised the ire of his Republican rivals. -- REUTERS