We got a link to the new Obama Girl video and were thinking, didn't we just post one of these? Let's skip this one. And then we saw scary, scary Mike Gravel trying to rap in it and were like, oh, let's definitely skip this one. But then "Soulja Boy" came on and watching Mike Gravel do the "Soulja Boy" dance made us realize we're not the worst person in the world at it. (Here's an instructional video if you want to feel good about yourself too.) Crank that!

Democratic candidate Mike Gravel is a patriot. His role in making the Pentagon Papers public record, his advocacy of the National Initiative, and his fearlessness at the debates (at least the ones in which he was allowed to participate) bespeak a man of principle.

But of course he has no chance of winning. Now that Bill Richardson has thrown the towel in, it really is a two-and-a-half man race for the nomination. (Edwards isn't going to win - hence the "half.") As of December 31, Gravel has $17, 527 on hand. If he were to call it quits today, what should he do with that kind of money? See below for some suggestions, then weigh in.

Although Mike Gravel has been blocked from appearing in the two more recent debates, he has not given up, here is his latest youtube hit created by RX2008, "Power to the People."

Mike Gravel's US presidential hopes stay alive online - AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - He's been written off by big US media as unelectable and has little money to finance his White House bid, but former Democratic Senator Mike Gravel has been able to keep his hopes alive thanks to YouTube and the Internet.

After representing Alaska in the US Senate from 1969 to 1981, Gravel fell off the political radar screen, his claim to fame being his vocal opposition to the Vietnam war.

For five months in 1971 he fought, alone, a law to renew the draft, forcing then-president Richard Nixon to allow it to expire in 1973. In 1971 he also made public the "Pentagon Papers," secret documents regarding the lead up to the Vietnam war.

A fierce critic of the Iraq war, Gravel does not mince words when talking about his Democratic opponents, especially front-runner Senator Hillary Clinton, whom he calls "gutless wonders" for not using lawmakers' funding power to bring an end to the war.

Low in the polls, he was blocked from the two most recent Democratic debates, MSNBC's October 30 debate in Philadelphia and one sponsored by CNN on November 15 in Las Vegas. Gravel told AFP it was his opposition to the war that kept him off the air.

"I charge GE, which is the owner of NBC, that they are excercising censorship because they are a major defense contractor and that is code in my mind for war profiteer," he said.

He said it is difficult to maintain his campaign against "celebrity candidates" because "mainstream media is controlling the information that Americans get."...Read More on AFP...

The field of GOP candidates remains large, with eight participants in the last debate. It's easy to get lost in the fog, with all these contenders - and few political watchers can even name Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter. (Yes, they're both candidates.)

But make, no mistake: there's a winner in there. And you've never heard his name ... until now. Watch and learn.

The results are in. The identities are revealed. Below are the answers to our poll on Democrat Candidate Ears.

We had Senator Mike Gravel on The Young Turks this morning. He is one of the Democratic presidential candidates and a former senator from Alaska. As you can see in the clip below, he admits to using marijuana and cocaine (God bless him for his honesty). He is not the least bit embarrassed about this or reluctant to share his story.

He then says we should legalize not only marijuana, but harder drugs like cocaine.



The whole interview with Senator Mike Gravel can be seen here.

Watch More Young Turks Here

Here are all 39 questions from the "revolutionary" youtube/CNN debate.

You can sit back and let this playlist role, or if you are looking to jump to a specific question or candidate, this guide should help you out. And feel free to peruse through the questions that never made it onto TV.

/Do note: Question #16 in the playlist is incorrect, here is the proper footage.

How could I not hope that CNN's Democratic debate tonight would fail? The foundering all-news network spent weeks touting their joint venture with YouTube as "first ever," "revolutionary" and "never been tried before" - an "experiment" on par with democracy itself!

The debate itself was treated as a news story - and not just any news story. The TOP news story of the day. The clock in the lower right corner of the screen (counting the hours and minutes till showtime!) is now a staple of awards show programming, of course. (Mind you, had CNN asked me to do red carpet coverage I would have been there in a heartbeat. "Candy Crowley, who are you wearing?!")

Why questions from ordinary Americans is so "groundbreaking" is beyond me: Politicians have participated in call-in shows like "Larry King Live" for years. They've attended town hall meetings. I even have a videotape of Hubert Humphrey addressing the tough questions of Minnesota dairy farmers from the 1960s. The only difference here is CNN had to roll in footage of the questioners instead of simply cutting to a questioner in the audience. Oh, that newfangled technology! Those crazy computers!

The whole thing smacked of a stodgy and creaky ratings-challenged network desperately trying to talk to the "young people." Reminiscent of the New York Times' much-mocked "grunge glossary" in 1992.