Click here for a list of celebrity Democratic endorsements

If Barack Obama could win the US elections on coolest celebrity endorsements, he would be President by now, writes Sophie Tedmanson.

While Hillary Clinton may have the support of the pop superstar Madonna, Jack Nicholson, the actor, Steven Spielberg, the director, and the poet Maya Angelou, a new video featuring some of the hippest stars of the entertainment and sporting industries backing her Democratic rival has become a sensation on YouTube, attracting over a million viewers since it was posted on Friday.

Made by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and directed by Bob Dylan’s son Jesse, the video for the song Yes We Can features the likes of R&B singer John Legend, Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson, TV star Kate Walsh, and American basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar singing a Bob Marley-style melody alongside footage of one of Mr Obama’s speeches during the New Hampshire primaries.

Mr Obama – who also ran an advertisement during last weekend’s Super Bowl - has already received high profile endorsements from the actors Robert de Niro, George Clooney and Matt Damon, Stevie Wonder, the singer, and Oprah Winfrey, the TV host.

Writing in a blog on the Huffingtonpost.com, Will.i.am said he was inspired to make the video – shot over two friends using friends as volunteers – after being “captivated and inspired” by Mr Obama’s speech on the evening of the New Hampshire primary, when he lost to Hillary Clinton.

“The speech made me think of Martin Luther King … Kennedy .. and Lincoln… and all the others that have fought for what we have today,” he wrote.

“One week later .. I came up with the idea to turn his speech into a song .. because that speech affected and touched my inner core like nothing in a very long time.”

Maria Shriver, a member of the Kennedy clan and wife of the California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, is also supporting Mr Obama, joining her cousin Caroline Kennedy.

However, Mr Schwarzenegger has already given his backing to John McCain, the Republican frontrunner.

Mr McCain is not the only Republican candidate with Hollywood. His Republican rival Mick Huckabee’s most famous supporter is Chuck Norris, the action man actor.

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