Obama announces 2012 presidential run on YouTube; Republicans retaliate

Obama, who dominated YouTube in 2008 with 150 million video views, officially announced his 2012 presidential run today, and he returned to his old video stomping ground to do it. Here's the video:




In an interesting move, the video does not really feature President Obama, in either image or speech. Instead, it includes the voices of his supporters. This is a smart idea, and not an entirely new one. Obama used a similar tactic in 2008's "Signs of Hope and Change" video, which was both an iconic representation of the grassroots movement and also heavily viewed:




But this year the Republicans are expecting Obama to bring his A-game and they are ready with a retaliation plan. The NRSC published this spoof ad four days ago, clearly expecting an Obama declaration this week. The NRSC video already has over 550,000 views. In addition, shortly after Obama's announcement video was released, Republican nominee Tim Pawlenty pushed out this counter-video.

In summary, Obama may be revving up his YouTube engine but the Republicans are showing that they're far more prepared than they were in 2008. If today's activity is any indication, it's going to be an interesting fight in 2012 for Battleground YouTube.