If the 2008 presidential election were held on YouTube, Barack Obama would win in a landslide.

Candidates of both parties have established channels on the video-sharing site. Earlier this month, YouTube set up a hub specifically for '08 candidates.

It has attracted the participation of Democrats: Illinois Sen. Obama, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd; and Republicans: Arizona Sen. John McCain, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

(A handful of declared candidates, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and California Rep. Duncan Hunter, don't have profiles on YouTube.)

YouTube has proven its power in influencing political campaigns in virally spreading clips such as when former Sen. George Allen, R-Va., uttered the word "macaca" during a campaign event. Though the site is adept at highlighting gaffs and blunders, whether it can do anything to swell positive support is another question entirely.

YouTube is a democracy of its own -- every video can be ranked by the number of views its receives. In this online popularity contest, the 45-year-old Obama currently leads handily in view-counts.

That result isn't surprising since the YouTube audience is predominantly young. Obama, who was ahead of most of the competition by getting himself up on YouTube six months ago, had more than 627,400 views of his channel as of Tuesday. Several of his 21 videos have been watched by 100,000-plus.

Clinton trails with about 51,000 views on her channel. Edwards, whose campaign joined YouTube 11 months ago, has yielded 40,000 views. Richardson has some 14,100, Kucinich is nearing 14,000, Biden's channel has been seen by about 13,500 and Dodd is last with 3,800.

Kucinich has been particularly active. On March 16, he took the unusual step of responding to a video from James Kotecki, a vlogger that goes by the name "EmergencyCheese." Kotecki had called for interaction from the candidates with the YouTube community. Kucinich's response then prompted Kotecki to post a video praising the candidate for his bold step. He also dances while chanting: "Gotta response from Kucinich."

The Republicans have not been as popular. YouTube, it would seem, skews to the left. Giuliani leads his party with 43,100 views, followed by Romney with 24,900, then McCain with 20,200 and Paul with only 4,500.

Romney has been the most frequent poster of videos. His clips are generally interviews on Fox News, speeches taped on C-SPAN or videos of him tickling his kitty. OK, that last one doesn't exist, but it's the sort of video that populates YouTube. If the candidates want to get eyeballs to their videos, they may have to adapt to the site's predominantly goofball style.

Video of the week: Launching fridge

If you haven't seen it by now, you may want to witness the invention of a beer-launching mini-fridge before the conclusion of March Madness and in time for the advent of the new baseball season. Search YouTube for "beer launching fridge" to see John Cornwell demonstrate his couch potato contraption. A recent graduate of Duke University, the 22-year-old Cornwell can with the click of a remote, jettison a cold beer up to 20 feet from his fridge. You can read more at www.beerlauncher.com.

Download this: Neil Young, "Live at Massey Hall"

Neil Young's 1971 concert at Toronto's Massey Hall has been a thing of legend. Shifting from acoustic guitar to piano and occasionally chatting in between, Young played a near-perfect, intimate solo set of much of his best work. It's recently been released on CD as part of Young's ever-increasing archives mining. The clarity of Young's voice is especially powerful on "On the Way Home," "Don't Let It Bring You Down" and "Dance Dance Dance." Also beautiful is the short, quiet version of "Cowgirl in the Sand," which includes a graceful, bluesy note bend that will inspire grimaces for another 25 years.