Christine O'Donnell tops year's best quotes

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Christine O'Donnell's TV ad declaration "I'm not a witch" during her U.S. Senate campaign topped this year's best quotations, according to a Yale University librarian.

O'Donnell's quote is cited by Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School, who released his fifth annual list of the most notable quotations of the year.

In the ad, O'Donnell was responding to reports of her revelations that she had dabbled in witchcraft years ago.

"It was such a remarkable unconventional quote to be a part of the political discourse," Shapiro said.

The quote by O'Donnell, a tea party favorite running in Delaware, tied for first place with "I'd like my life back," the lament made in May by BP's chief executive Tony Hayward after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The original Yale Book of Quotations was published in 2006. Since then, Shapiro has released an annual list of the top 10 quotes. He said they will be incorporated into the next edition of the book.

O'Donnell, who lost the Senate race to Democrat Chris Coons, also made the list for questioning, during a debate in October, whether the First Amendment includes the "separation of church and state."

She was not the only tea party candidate on the list. Sharron Angle, who lost the Senate race in Nevada to Majority Leader Harry Reid, also made the list. - AP