The Top Political Videos of 2011

From candidate ads to pundit debates, speeches from the White House to impassioned pleas from the American heartland, this year’s most-viewed political videos show us that a message that resonates can come from anywhere -- and anyone.

Surpassing the President and various presidential hopefuls in views, the #1 video on our list comes from a young man in Iowa speaking candidly to his government. This video of Zach Wahls speaking about gay marriage has been viewed more than 18 million times.



Three candidates for 2012 made the most-viewed political videos list. Gov. Rick Perry's highly-covered "Strong" ad was uploaded just this month, but has already racked up 7 million views (another one of his ads, “Proven Leadership” is also on the list). Herman Cain, who recently suspended his bid for President, showed that quirky gets views. President Obama reached an audience of millions on YouTube as both commander in chief, and stand up comedian.

Here’s the full list of the most-viewed political videos from the YouTube News and Politics category:

1. Zach Wahls speaks about family
2. President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
3. Strong [Rick Perry ad]
4. President Obama on death of Osama bin Laden
5. Brother, can you spare a trillion? Government gone wild!
6. Seth Meyers remarks at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
7. Rick Perry - Proven Leadership
8. Jon Stewart Goes Head-to-Head Bill O'Reilly
9. Now is the time for action! [Herman Cain ad]
10. President Barack Obama's First Ad of 2012 [NRSC Ad]

In all, the videos on this list account for over 50 million views, demonstrating that there is significant interest in political video on YouTube before the primaries have even begun. For all the key moments in online political video during the coming election, visit YouTube.com/Politics. For more of YouTube’s most-viewed videos of 2011, visit YouTube.com/Rewind.

Pawlenty - inching towards an official declaration?

Last week, we brought you a few musical tributes to possible Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Today, Governor Tim Pawlenty's Freedom First PAC released "Courage to Stand," an extremely well-produced video...err, cinematographic experiment? Watch it here:



While Pawlenty has not officially declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination, with videos like this, we wouldn't be surprised if he did announce something in the near future. We'll certainly be keeping an eye on his YouTube channel though...

Battle Hymn of the Republican: Odes to Sarah Palin

Nothing says "impending primary season" like a good campaign tribute song. In 2008, Obama Girl shared her breathy pledge of allegiance to Barack on YouTube, while an unlikely trio of middle-aged women informed America that it was "raining McCain."

This year, there's only one potential Republican primary candidate who is already inspiring dozens of ditties...Sarah Palin. This song, set to the tune of the American classic "Battle Hymn of the Republic," was uploaded in October but is only now finding its footing on the interwebs - it has close to 50,000 views and this count is rising. Potentially troubling, however, is the fact that the video has 1,722 "dislikes" and only 226 "likes":



But wait! A quick search yielded quite a few more Sarah songs, like this one, posted just six days ago, and whose description reads "Written for Governor Sarah Palin's 2008 vice-presidential campaign, the words I wrote to "All American Woman" are as true and meaningful today as they were then. She still represents the freedom loving and conscience guided Americans who are quite concerned with the direction this country is headed; which is to put it bluntly - down the tubes! Understandably, she is despised by extreme leftists and not without good reason, for Sarah Palin exposes them for what they are - people who hate America. Rich and remastered the vocals and rhythm tracks to kick it up a notch!"



This video from Zachary Stockdale is perhaps the most "professional" of the lot but also reeks of a possible parody:




Seen any other tribute songs we should know about? Perhaps a Romney rap or a Thune tune? Let us know in the comments.