The Zeitgeist Checklist By MICHAEL GRUNWALD

BUT THIS COULD BE A PROBLEM FOR MATTHEW PERRY Last week: 9 Weeks on list: 2

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7. Medicine. The Perrigo Co., a medical manufacturer, chooses the inopportune week of the Democratic landslide to recall 11 million bottles of tainted generic painkillers. But Rush Limbaugh says not to worry; he uses only name brands.

NO WORD YET FROM WANG CHUNG Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1

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8. 2008. The presidential campaign officially begins, as Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) form the first exploratory committees. The first task will be to explore how exactly they got the idea that they could be president.

CRAZY MARRIAGE IS STILL OK, TOMKAT Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1

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9. Ballot Initiatives. South Dakota rejected a ban on abortion, but seven states approved bans on same-sex marriage. Apparently, most Americans still cling to a traditional view of marriage as a sacred bond between a man and a woman and a reality-TV crew and the entourages and the paparazzi and the strippers and the publicists and the divorce lawyers.

THIS COLUMN MIGHT BE NEXT Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1

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10. Media. The Tribune Co. ousts well-respected Los Angeles Times Editor Dean Baquet, who had publicly refused to shrink his newsroom to boost corporate profits. Some journalists contend that dramatic cuts are already damaging the quality of their product, but industry bean counters say that's ridicu

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THE ZEITGEIST CHECKLIST ALSO APPEARS IN SLATE, THE ONLINE MAGAZINE AT WWW.SLATE.COM.