Why do we like year-end lists so much? Do they provide closure as we shut down for the holidays? A sense that we collectively endured a year of highs, lows, and middles together? Are they an aid to our attention-deprived senses to remind us of things long forgotten? Lazy substitutes for actual reporting?

My money’s on the latter. That’s why we’ve produced our own year-end list of our favorite political videos of the year. We'll be posting two lists, one of videos by the candidates, and the other of voter-generated videos.

First up: the candidates.

10. Mike Gravel: Power to the People
Mike Gravel quotes John Lennon and himself, sing-rapping with the aid of some duct tape and an American flag.

9. Mike Gravel: Rock (not full)
A cult classic for the ages. We still have no idea what it means.

8. Senator Dodd versus Bill O’Reilly
Chris Dodd sticks it to Bill O’Reilly, besting him at his own game.

7. Bill Richardson’s New Ads: Job Interview and Tell Me
One of the best political ads of the year. Smart, funny, informative. Unfortunately it didn’t do much to actually get him the job.

6. HuckChuckFacts
Chuck Norris and Mike Huckabee collaborate on a huge career-boosting video (for both of them) that has been viewed almost 2.5 million times on YouTube.

5. John Edwards - Hair
Edwards turns the tables and zooms right in on what, for his campaign, really matters.

4. The Politics of Parsing (Edwards)
Exploiting a weak moment for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the Edwards team produced a biting and funny video repeating nudging her weak spot.

3. Caucusing Is Easy (Clinton)
Featuring a hamburger, Bill Clinton, and Hillary singing the national anthem. Oh yeah, it describes the Iowa caucus process too.

2. Hillary Clinton Sopranos Parody
The candidate-produced viral video of the year.

1. Students for Barack Obama
A powerful (and long) video about the power of students to foster social and political change, framing Barack Obama as the standard-bearer for past and present youth movements. A great piece of campaign propaganda.