Sen. John McCain’s Friday announcement of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate has made waves throughout the country, and particularly on the left and right blogospheres. Because Sarah Palin is such an unknown, and because the Republican Party will attempt to use this week to introduce Sarah Palin to the country, I think right now is the perfect opportunity to define her in the minds of Democrats and independents, those who may be swayed by the presence of a woman and a second so-called “maverick” on the Republican ticket.

And so, I’m announcing the launch of the tiniest of nanosites in Defining Sarah Palin.

I quickly threw the site together in about three hours over Labor Day weekend, using it as an excuse to learn jQuery, a Javascript framework. Granted, on a technical level, the use of jQuery isn’t all that impressive. The name and design of the site were inspired by the recent movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

If you’re on my side ideologically, I encourage you to spread the word, and maybe even contribute some of your own definitions in the comments or on Twitter.

We’ve all seen microsites used in politics, from ImpeachGonzales.org last year to the recently launched CanWeAsk.com. Common to microsites are a clear message and clear call to action. ImpeachGonzales.org was a video and a petition to, well, impeach former AG Alberto Gonzalez, while CanWeAsk.com, an RNC effort playing off the “Yes We Can” slogan, is an effort to collect non-friendly user-generated questions for presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

But as I read Micah Sifry’s post from earlier today, I wondered how the virally-spreading rumor of Barack Obama’s Muslim roots could be countered. I then remembered something I saw over two years ago:

Is Lost a Repeat?

Lost fans were frustrated by the unpredictable schedule of repeat episodes airing during the regular TV season, and an inventive fan came up with this solution. Really simple, and really to the point. Even smaller than a microsite: a nanosite.

I thought the same concept can be applied to the Obama/Muslim issue. Alas, I’ve already been beaten to the punch by two anonymous domain purchasers. IsBarackObamaAMuslim.com was purchased in February, and IsBarackObamaMuslim.com was purchased several days ago. I prefer the latter, as the footnotes provide some… what’s the right word?... facts.

But there’s a change of medium to note here. The Obama/Muslim rumors are being spread by chain email, so a website isn’t the same turf. And boring truths are not nearly as viral as salacious rumors.

Back in 2004, the country was treated to the glorious JohnKerryIsADouchebagButImVotingForHimAnyway.com, a site which is sadly no longer active and not archived. I have a personal project at TheHug.com, but I wouldn’t consider it a success (yet).

Are there any other notable nanosites out there being used in politics?