Colbert, Rain Not Most Influential

The second annual TIME 100 poll pitted more than 200 scientists, intellectuals, corporate titans, heads of state, cable TV hosts and Korean pop singers against each other in a competition to determine one thing: who is the world's most influential person?

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Despite aggressive campaigning on Larry King Live, Today and his own show, the voters have spoken — and the winner is not Stephen Colbert. The falsely outraged host will reportedly address this slight on his eponymous pretend cable news program later this evening.

If there's any consolation for Colbert, it's that his arch nemesis, peach-cheeked South Korean pop star Rain, didn't win either.

The world's most influential person in 2008, according to TIME.com voters, is Nintendo video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto topped the poll with an influence rating of 72 from 1,829,710 overall votes. (Finalists are rated from 1 for least influential to 100 for most influential; users can vote as often as they like.) The 2007 winner Rain finished second with an influence rating of 68 from 1,491,910 votes, while Colbert came in a distant third with a 65 rating from 853,004. (Click here for complete results.)

Despite their defeat at the hands of Miyamoto, the 2008 poll will almost certainly be remembered for the epic battle fought between Colbert and Rain. If 2007's poll — in which Colbert created his own Korean pop video in an attempt to outshine Rain — was a World War I of meaninglessness, 2008 was far bloodier. Colbert mocked Rain on various outlets and pleaded with viewers to vote for him while Rain valiantly fought back, sending Colbert a video taunt that advised him to "keep your day job." Colbert countered by proposing a dance-off.

Both men will have to settle for a Wii-off.

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