tagged w/ Presidential Campaign
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Will he endorse a candidate? If so, which one? If not, will he finally jump into the ring himself. And as what? A Republican? Too late to get on the ballot, isn’t it? An independent? Could be. Who knows?
Whatever. But it’s official. You know it’s official because Donald “tweeted” it himself on his Twitter doohickey.
http://deepbrainmedia.com/2012/02/02/trump-to-make-major-announcement-thursday/Will he endorse a candidate? If so, which one? If not, will he finally jump into the... more
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Probably the most boring reality TV show this season is the Republican debates. After the first three episodes, there wasn’t much new information, instead everyone listened for nuances or changed positions. I’m sure Rick Perry would love to remember them but he may have forgotten the third one. They have really been exercises in patience for the vast majority of the electorate because they have not focused on the real issues. Let’s have an honest debate between candidates not coached for soundbites and ridiculous policies designed to excite a base fed with a strictly red meat diet.
I propose that the candidates for Americans Elect hold a debate with the Buddy Roemer, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, and Rocky Anderson. Let’s get the different parties and their views out there to enlighten the electorate and present valid choices. None of us should be afraid of putting our policies out in the open and getting people to judge them. I even have a proposed forum, TYT/Current TV.
Former VP Al Gore needs to build audience participation in his new venture and a debate hosted by Cenk Ugyer, Keith Olbermann, and a few other worthy parties could really present an informative moment for everyone as well as real entertainment. It might be nice listening to people who did not think US territory extended across the Mediterranean into Israel or that the only way to solve our deficit problems was through tax cuts.
I propose that we hold a webcast between the South Carolina primary and the one in Florida, another mid-February, and then one in mid-March after Super Tuesday. To further broaden the appeal, one of them could be held on the Real News and another on C-Span. Instead of soundbite answers, respondents could be held to a two-minute rule.
This is a year when we need to get a broader picture of whom the electorate can choose from and with the flexibility that the Internet offers, the debaters could simply skype into the event instead of traveling because in the end it is the substance that we want, not the entertainment.
Mike Ballantine is a Green Party candidate for US President on Americans Elect.Probably the most boring reality TV show this season is the Republican debates. After... more
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CNN...
June 27th, 2011
06:09 PM ET
Michele Bachmann, evangelical feminist?
By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor
(CNN) - If Hillary Clinton, the woman who came closest to becoming a major party presidential nominee, is a feminist icon, could something similar be said of Michele Bachmann, who officially launched her presidential campaign on Monday?
Bachmann is seldom described in those terms; the conservative Minnesota congresswoman and Tea Party darling might cringe at the feminist label.
But some religion and politics experts say that she exemplifies an evangelical feminism that is producing more female leaders in Christian nonprofits, businesses, and education and politics, even as more traditional gender roles prevail in evangelical homes and churches.
“It’s not that evangelical feminism is entirely new,” says R. Marie Griffith, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. “But this lack of fear going into top positions of power is new and astonishing and exciting for this segment of the population.”
Though evangelical women have long been involved in political activism, including helping to lead the temperance movement and campaigning for and against women's right to vote, seeking the White House is a more recent and dramatic step.
“It’s a trend that was started by Sarah Palin,” Griffith said, referring to the former Alaska governor, who was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008.
D. Michael Lindsay, a scholar who has studied evangelical leaders, says that evangelical feminism largely followed the trend in secular feminism, even if it was delayed by a decade or so.
“Evangelicals are not traditionally the innovators in gender roles, so they’re not going to be at the vanguard,” says Lindsay, who was recently appointed president at Gordon College and who wrote the book Faith in the Halls of Power. “But they also don’t trail too far behind.”
Lindsay says that evangelical feminism took off in the 1980s, pointing to Ronald Reagan tapping Elizabeth Dole, a Christian with strong connections in the evangelical world, to be his secretary of transportation as one example.
George W. Bush, meanwhile, appointed evangelical women to top roles in his presidential administration, including Karen Hughes as a top adviser and Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state.
At the same time, there are distinctions between evangelical and secular feminism. Many female evangelical leaders, for instance, talk of being called by God to pursue professional careers.
“This idea of women being out in the world when they’re doing God’s work – that’s the key,” says Griffith, who is author of God's Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. “You have to be called.”
Bachmann, an evangelical Lutheran, has talked of being called to run for president.
“When I pray, I pray believing that God will speak to me and give me an answer to that prayer, and so that’s what a calling is,” she told CBS News on Sunday, explaining that she had prayed about her decision to seek the presidency. “If I pray, a calling means that I have a sense from God which direction I’m supposed to go.”
Another difference between some evangelical and secular feminists is a public emphasis on motherhood. Bachmann’s political identity is constructed largely around her role as a mother of five kids and her experience of taking in 23 foster children.
Palin, who was raised in the Pentecostal tradition, has also emphasized her role as mother, frequently discussing her children and famously using the term “mama grizzlies” to describe female political candidates for whom she campaigns.
Lindsay says that the motherhood angle could be refreshing to evangelical voters, who constitute a majority of the Republican electorate in early states like Iowa and South Carolina.
“A lot of male evangelical politicians have trumpeted family values, but we’ve seen time after time how many break their marriage vows and have tense relationships with their kids,” he says.
“When you’re the mother of four or five kids up there talking about how their commitment to politics stems from your commitment to kids, which is true for both Palin and Bachmann, that resonates with people who are skeptical of American politics.”
Though Bachmann is widely considered to be a long shot for the GOP nomination, a weekend poll from The Des Moines Register had her running second only to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney among likely Republican caucus-goers, with 22% support.
Even as more evangelical women pursue top jobs in politics, there is little sign that they will be invited into similar roles in evangelical churches, which continue to be led by men, with some exceptions. Some evangelical denominations, including Southern Baptists, have recently moved to put more restrictions on women serving as pastors.
“It seems to me that most evangelical congregations make a sharp divide between the sacred and secular realms,” says Lindsay, “so that church is the last context where you’ll see women in ordained roles.”CNN...
June 27th, 2011
06:09 PM ET
Michele Bachmann, evangelical feminist?... more
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Only weeks old, Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign is on life support following the mass departure of his entire senior staff.
(read all about it at link)Only weeks old, Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign is on life support... more
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From the moment Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech electrified the Republican convention, she was seen as an unbending, hard-charging, red-meat ideologue—to which soon was added “thin-skinned” and “vindictive.” But a look at what Palin did while in office in Alaska—the only record she has—shows a very different politician: one who worked with Democrats to tame Big Oil and solve the great problem at the heart of the state’s politics. That Sarah Palin might have set the nation on a different course. What went wrong?
It’s hard to escape Sarah Palin. On Facebook and Twitter, cable news and reality television, she is a constant object of dispute, the target or instigator of some distressingly large proportion of the political discourse. If she runs for president—well, brace yourself! But there is one place where a kind of collective resolve has been able to push her aside, make her a less suffocating presence than almost everywhere else: Alaska.
During a week spent traveling there recently, I learned that Palin occupies a place in the minds of most Alaskans roughly like that of an ex-spouse from a stormy marriage: she’s a distant bad memory, and questions about her seem vaguely unwelcome. Visitors to Juneau, the capital and a haven for cruise-ship tourism, are hard-pressed to find signs of the state’s most famous citizen—no “Mama Grizzly” memorabilia or T-shirts bearing her spunky slogans. Although the town was buzzing with politics because the legislature was in session, talk of Palin mainly revolved around a rumored Democratic poll showing her to be less popular in Alaska right now than Barack Obama. The only tangible evidence I saw was her official portrait in the capitol and a small sign in the window of a seedy-looking gift shop advertising “Sarah Palin toilet paper.” Alaska has moved on.
So has Palin. Two years after abruptly resigning the governorship, she is a national figure, touring the country to promote her books; speaking out whenever moved to on important issues of the day; and serving, mainly through Fox News, as the guardian-enforcer of a particularly martial brand of conservatism. Though she still lives in Alaska, she has all but withdrawn from its public life, appearing only seldom and then usually to film her reality-television show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska.
But if she decides to run for the White House—and she’ll have to make up her mind soon—all of that will change. As much as Alaska might like to forget Sarah Palin, and she it, her record there, especially as governor, will take on new salience.
Full Article: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/06/the-tragedy-of-sarah-palin/8492/1/From the moment Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech electrified the Republican... more
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(The video below is of Ron Paul's speech at the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference. He would go on to win the CPAC straw poll for the second year in a row doing so in a dominant fashion, receiving 30% of the vote.)
The National Inflation Association (NIA) today officially declared Ron Paul the front-runner to win the upcoming 2012 presidential election. NIA is very pleased that Ron Paul won the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll of who attendees want to receive the GOP nomination to run for President in 2012. This is the second year in a row that Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll. He received 30% of the vote compared to Mitt Romney, who came in second with 23%. Sarah Palin received only 3% of the vote. 3,742 total people voted in the straw poll, which was twice as much as four years ago.
It is funny how when Ron Paul wins the straw poll, CPAC organizers are sure to say right before the results are read that, "It's not a Gallup poll." However, if it was Mitt Romney winning the straw poll, they would say no such thing. This reminds us of the mainstream media's all out efforts to marginalize Ron Paul during the 2008 election season. Every time the GOP candidates would have a televised debate, FOX News would have a text message poll where viewers can send a text to vote on who they thought won the debate. Whenever Ron Paul would perform favorably in these FOX News text message polls and receive a large percentage of the text message vote, FOX News would unbelievably make up excuses to try and discredit their own polling technology!
After a GOP candidate debate on May 15th, 2007, FOX News conducted one of these text message polls on who won the debate. In this particular instance, Ron Paul didn't even win the text message vote. Mitt Romney won with 29% and Ron Paul came in a close second with a respectable 25%. However, even when finishing in second place, FOX News felt the need to say, "How is Ron Paul's numbers so high? We've had so many emailers say that clearly some online communities are messing with the outcome." (While one FOX News host was saying this, the other one was saying "absolutely" in the background.)
Please see the NIA blog for a video we just posted of this incidence, as well as a video we posted of how FOX News worked overtime to try and downplay and discredit Ron Paul's 2010 CPAC straw poll win. We also posted a video from this year's CPAC showing the ignorant comments of Donald Trump, who claims Ron Paul can't get elected. (How many elections has Donald Trump won? Ron Paul has been elected to Congress eleven times.)
NIA believes that Ron Paul's beliefs reflect the majority of educated Americans. In our opinion, Ron Paul's CPAC straw poll win two years in a row is very significant and suggests that our country is ready to move away from the Republican establishment that acts exactly like Democrats once in power. Mitt Romney is a part of the Republican establishment that has bankrupted our nation and put it on the brink of hyperinflation. Ron Paul is the only real candidate who would implement real change.
It is not Ron Paul supporters who are somehow able to manipulate the CPAC straw polls and FOX News text message polls, but it is the mainstream media who is able to continuously manipulate the minds of Americans into believing Ron Paul is some kind of a "radical" candidate who is unfit for office and has no chance of being elected. Ron Paul is the only sane candidate in an insane Washington, DC, which thinks it is OK to print $4.6 trillion out of thin air in order to bailout investment banks on Wall Street that produce nothing and Americans would be better off without.
During the MSNBC GOP debate back on January 24th of 2008 in Boca Raton, FL, Mitt Romney was given the opportunity to make 13 comments totaling 21 minutes and 11 seconds, while Ron Paul was only allowed to make 6 comments totaling 6 minutes and 31 seconds. At least MSNBC allowed Ron Paul to debate. He was banned from the January 6th, 2008, FOX News GOP debate in Milford, NH. Despite being banned, Ron Paul still received 10% of the GOP vote in NH. Rudy Giuliani, who was allowed to debate, ended up only receiving just 3% of the vote.
In the 4Q of 2007, Ron Paul was able to raise $20 million and ended the year with $7.8 million in cash on hand. Ron Paul doubled John McCain's fund raising during the quarter of $10 million. In fact, John McCain's campaign was broke at the end of 2007 and had $1.6 million in debt.
(Read on at this link)
http://dailypaul.com/157051/nia-declares-ron-paul-2012-presidential-front-runner-says-the-political-establishment-is-afraid-of-ron-paul(The video below is of Ron Paul's speech at the 2011 Conservative Political... more
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Heckling From AIDS Activists Irritates Obama During Boston Rally
Theblaze.com
October 16, 2010
by Scott Baker
BOSTON (AP) — With the congressional elections fast approaching, President Barack Obama acknowledged Saturday that the hope and energy he stirred during his presidential campaign may have faded in the face of a grinding economic crisis.
Click too watch...(VIDEO) President Obama Gets Pissed Off At Aids Activist Hecklers, They Dare Question Obama…http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/video-president-obama-gets-pissed-off-at-aids-activist-hecklers-they-dare-question-obama/
“We’re doing the grinding, sometimes frustrating work of actually delivering change. I know it can be discouraging,” Obama told a crowd of 10,000 at an energetic rally at Boston’s Hynes Convention Center.Heckling From AIDS Activists Irritates Obama During Boston Rally
Theblaze.com... more
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This is a video JP DeLaire released in 2008, inspired by Barack Obama's leadership, with the intent to support his race to the White House. Just two years later, the video now has even more significance, detailing all of the things that have changed and all that remains to be done. As a member of "The Peterson Family", Minnesota's First Family Of Music, Jason has learned everything from world renowned musicians such as Prince and Michael Bolton with whom he collaborated extensively. His approach to the music is unique and meaningful. Jason plays the piano and sax, is a soulful vocalist, and writes emotionally deep songs which embrace many styles.
Jason's latest CD 'In My Life' is available for purchase on iTunes and on his own website in CD format as well. A new single "Romance, Rumors and Lies" has been released, while he plans on touring with his own band the next spring-summer.
http://www.myspace.com/jpdelaireThis is a video JP DeLaire released in 2008, inspired by Barack Obama's... more
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I don't understand. Bin Laden has not been indicted for anything? He's not been officially charged with anything so technically he's no different than you or I donating to Sarah Palin.I don't understand. Bin Laden has not been indicted for anything? He's not... more
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Would you like to own a record of the most successful grassroots campaign in presidential election history? A sprawling collection of art from the historic campaign, "Designing Obama" features over one hundred artists whose works contributed to a nationwide branding effort that helped inspire a nation.
With collaboration from Scott Thomas, the Design Director for the Obama campaign, and featuring forewords by Steven Heller and Michael Beirut, the 360-page, hardbound full-color book is being printed on demand. Like the Obama campaign itself, publication of "Designing Obama" rests upon the contributions of its supporters. The team joined funding platform KickStarter, to collect pre-order donations in hopes that the book will meet its minimum print run, a $65,000 goal. Judging by the initial response since the site launched yesterday, the book looks to be a shoe-in.
Follow the progress and making of the book on Twitter, and pre-order a standard copy for $50 from Kickstarter.Would you like to own a record of the most successful grassroots campaign in... more
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A California pastor told his parishioners to attend confessional if they had voted for President-elect Barack Obama because of his stance on abortion, the McClatchy Tribune reported.
The Rev. Joseph Illo, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Modesto, Calif., said voting for a pro-choice candidate amounted to a punishable sin.
“If you are one of the 54 percent of Catholics who voted for a pro-abortion candidate, you were clear on his position and you knew the gravity of the question, I urge you to go to confession before receiving communion. Don’t risk losing your state of grace by receiving sacrilegiously,” Illo wrote in a letter dated Nov. 21.
Illo sent the letter to more than 15,000 members of his parish, one of 34 parishes in the Stockton diocese.
Illo also delivered this message in a homily, the Modesto Bee reported.
But not all priest agree with Illo’s point of view.
Rev. Stephen Blaire, bishop of the Stockton diocese, said Catholics don’t need to confess if they voted for Obama and should not be compelled to reveal their voting choice by their priest, the Associated Press reported.
“There were probably many priests, and I suspect many bishops, who voted for Obama.”
Many religious leaders warned voters against Obama during the campaign because of his stance on abortion. Earlier this month, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops cautioned Obama against enacting an “evil law” that would deregulate the “abortion industry”, saying it would alienate millions of Americans and sow disunity, Agence France Presse reported.A California pastor told his parishioners to attend confessional if they had voted for... more
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That is pretty crazy considering the whole damn town is named after a black man. In this economy newspapers cannot afford to get uppity.
Protestors spoke out Thursday against The Terrell Tribune's decision not to put Barack Obama's presidential victory on its front page.
The day after Obama was elected as president, the banner headline for the Tribune focused on the county commissioner's race. The headline read, "Jackson defeats Schoen."
About 25 residents, who said they had hoped to save the local paper with Obama's victory noted front page, picketed the newspaper's office Thursday.
"That's what I wanted, a keepsake," said Lera Duncan, who was among the protestors. "And this was very disappointing to me."
"They could have knocked me over with a feather," said Sarah Whitaker. "I was flabbergasted. I couldn't imagine such an historical event would not be on the front page somewhere on The Terrell Tribune."
Protestors pointed out that on Election Day, the Tribune had printed a John McCain-focused story as their lead story on the front page.
"It's not the people in the community," said another protestor. "It's the paper itself."
The Terrell Tribune's publisher, Bill Jordan, declined an on-camera interview.
"We run a newspaper, not a memory book service," he said. "We covered the local commissioner's race. We thought that was more important."
For those who may believe race played a part in the decision, the publisher pointed out that Democrat J.C. Jackson, who was at the center of the main story and who won the race for county commissioner, is an African American.
But while there were a few Obama-related stories within the paper, there was no story devoted to the presidential victory. That is pretty crazy considering the whole damn town is named after a black man. In... more
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Even as Gov. Sarah Palin exits stage left -- perhaps only temporarily -- back to the frozen tundra, we note that it was Fox News who broke the story that Sarah P. was a bit geography-challenged. Even as Gov. Sarah Palin exits stage left -- perhaps only temporarily -- back to the... more
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At 11:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), NBC News made its official projection that Senator Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States of America. In an amazing moment in American history, the ultimate color line has been broken. The last few days have challenged Obama's cool like never before, his election-day stress amplified by the fatigue of an 18-month campaign and the death of his grandmother just yesterday.
A sense of history stalked Obama everywhere on election day. Presently, hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans are already celebrating in Chicago's Grant Park, where the crowd is anticipated to reach 1,000,000 people or more. President-elect Obama is scheduled to appear to make remarks before the huge crowd in Grant Park at around 11:00 p.m. Central Time.
We are all so lucky to have witnessed this tonight.
This article includes a number of stunning photographs, video and a remarkable photo-gallery.At 11:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), NBC News made its official projection that Senator... more
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After the longest presidential campaign in history, Barack Obama saved a huge Virginia rally for last, speaking to 90,000 people in Manassas (VA). For his conclusion, he reached back to the very beginnings of his campaign to tell an inspirational story that had long ago fallen away from his routine.
It was about a small 60 year-old woman whom he had met during a visit to tiny Greenwood, South Carolina, in 2007, and it became a favorite during his Iowa caucus campaign. It ends with Obama leading a cheer of "Fire it Up, Ready to Go!"
Obama ended Tuesday night's Virginia rally by exhorting the large crowd: "In 21 hours, if you are willing to endure rainfall, to take the person who was not going to vote to the polls, if you will stand with me in a fight with me, I know that your voice will matter. I have one question for you, Virginia. Are you fired up? Are you ready to go? Fired up? Ready to go? Fired up! Ready to go! Virginia, let's go change the world!"
This article includes a number of stunning photographs and two videos.After the longest presidential campaign in history, Barack Obama saved a huge Virginia... more
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Democrats are trying to make an issue out of comments by Republican presidential candidate John McCain that dismiss Barack Obama's concerns over the safety of nuclear energy.
McCain mimicked his Democratic opponent at a campaign event in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Oct. 26, saying Obama says nuclear power "has to be safe, environment, blah blah blah," when the two debate over energy policy. McCain went on to say that nuclear power is safe.
Congresswoman Shelley Berkley said Sunday that the remark dismisses safety concerns and insults Nevadans who oppose the construction of a national nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. Most Nevada elected officials oppose the plan.
McCain supports the plan, Obama opposes it.
McCain spokesman Rick Gorka says Democrats are "definitely reaching" in their interpretation of McCain's remarks. He says it's "preposterous" to say McCain doesn't care about the safety of Nevadans.Democrats are trying to make an issue out of comments by Republican presidential... more
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Sarah Palin knows the way to the hearts of conservative Ohioans. In Lakewood, an affluent bedroom community 10 minutes from downtown Cleveland, Palin on Monday married two of her favorite attacks into one anti-Obama soliloquy that framed the Illinois senator as a creature of San Francisco--a city as hated by Republican voters for its congresswoman, Nancy Pelosi, as it is for being an overall bastion of liberalism. The crowd responded to Palin's enthusiastic attacks and promise of victory, at one point interrupting her to chant over and over, "We will win!"
Palin reminded the crowd of several hundred that San Francisco was the venue for Obama's remarks this spring that rural Americans cling to guns and religion because they are bitter. What a coincidence, then, that Obama was also in the City by the Bay when he disclosed that under a cap and trade plan he supports, polluters who disregard carbon emissions could "bankrupt" the coal industry. (Incidentally, John McCain also supports cap and trade, a program that would charge polluters for carbon emissions, giving companies financial incentives to reduce pollution). "There must be something about San Francisco," Palin said. "It's like a truth serum where when he's there he seems to be more candid. Remember it was there that he talked about, there you go, the bitter clingers, the Klingons, all of us, I guess, you know holding onto religion and guns."Sarah Palin knows the way to the hearts of conservative Ohioans. In Lakewood, an... more
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Citizen Kate ventured out into the political forest, if you will, to find out about the Green Party. And one thing they're not too full of, is the bling. Find out about their party and their candidate, Cynthia McKinney, Queen of Green.Citizen Kate ventured out into the political forest, if you will, to find out about... more
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Edie Falco is fidgeting and looks nervous. The star of “The Sopranos” admits to her N.C. audience she's a product of lower Manhattan who barely understands voters above 14th Street. She talks for just five minutes, and never mentions the names John McCain or George Bush.
It's another decidedly low-key moment for the seemingly endless number of celebrities who back Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
“I've never had any intentions of trying to change anybody's mind,” Falco said. “I have personal reservations about celebrities backing candidates. I've heard a lot of celebrities talking about politics who in my estimation are not qualified to do so. Frankly, I'm embarrassed sometimes that they are representing my ilk, if you will.”
Four years ago, Bruce Springsteen was the face of celebrity in politics, making his first public endorsement of a candidate with a column in The New York Times, before leading a series of swing-state concerts during which he and others urged a vote for Democratic nominee John Kerry.
The pleas from The Boss didn't work.
So while Obama has his share of celebrity concerts and bold-face-name endorsements – Dave Matthews playing a show in his home state of Virginia, an e-mail to NASCAR fans from legendary driver and team owner Junior Johnson – he's using his support among famous faces differently this year.
“They're less focused on being messengers for the campaign and are more plugged in to helping the organization be more effective,” said Bill Carrick, a California Democratic consultant and veteran of past presidential campaigns.
The GOP has tried to bring celebrities into its fold, but the party knows that's not its base. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin acknowledged as much while speaking at a fundraiser in Greensboro last month.
“We were making a list of who are some celebrity singers who could come out and help us and gosh, for the life of us, the pickings were slim there,” she said. “Who's quasi-conservative out there in the celebrity land?”
Mostly, the answer is country artists such as Hank Williams, Jr. and Gretchen Wilson, who both have performed before rallies for the Republican ticket. Edie Falco is fidgeting and looks nervous. The star of “The Sopranos”... more
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