Women have voted in greater proportions than men for almost three decades. But the hard-fought candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket have put new cultural and ideological elements more fully into play.

According to E!’s TV insider Kristin Dos Santos, the talk show queen will play herself in the quirky sitcom. She’ll appear alongside comedy writer Liz Lemon (played by ‘30 Rock’ star and creator Tina Fey) in every scene, and be involved into a storyline that ties into an ongoing feud between the show’s eccentric characters.

The economists, Craig Garthwaite and Timothy Moore of the University of Maryland, College Park, contend that Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of Senator Barack Obama last year gave him a boost of about one million votes in the primaries and caucuses.