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By Barbara Card Atkinson
Special to MSN Entertainment
We're witnessing history, watching as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and Mike Huckabee jockey for their party's nomination. All the while, the American public waits for that one defining moment: the presidential endorsement that has yet to come from our apparently reticent thought-leader. Yes, like all of you, I am waiting with bated breath to discover for whom "Celebrity Rehab's" Dr. Drew Pinsky will vote.
The influence celebrities wield over their fans is a strange and awesome thing. People look to them for the hottest nightspots, the best handbags and the newest fashion trends, including Chihuahua dog-ccessories, going commando in shirts-as-dresses and indecipherable catchphrases. Fo'shizzle. Might the American public be starstruck enough to vote as their favorite sitcom star votes? Few admit it. According to a new MSN-Zogby poll, 89 percent of respondents insist they are not influenced by celebrity endorsements of political candidates. About half of the respondents agreed that celebrities have no expertise in politics and for that reason their vote is not influenced by celebrity endorsements. Another 40 percent indicated that they were interested in who is supporting which candidate, but that didn't mean they were actively swayed. Or so they said. Hey, someone is buying Paris Hilton's Heiress perfume, but no one's fessing up to that, either.
Perhaps the celebs are reaching just that remaining 11 percent, the ones who have admitted they're political lemmings -- or maybe a good chunk of the 89 percent is downplaying the sway celebrities hold. In either case, the 2008 primaries are breaking records for celebrity endorsements. And why not? If there's one thing celebrities seem to like, it's other celebrities. And, these days, politicians are celebrities in their own right. We know way too much about Clinton's marriage, the details of McCain's divorce, how Obama fought to quit smoking and Romney's dog-atop-car incident. It's not unlike how we can't name an actor's latest movie, but we know the dates and locations of his multiple rehab visits. In many cases, we know far more about politicians' private lives than we do about their policies. As has been rather unkindly (and accurately) stated, "Politics is show business for ugly people." Welcome to "Beauty and the Policy Wonk."
It's not a new phenomenon. Hollywood celebrities and political candidates have been enmeshed about as long as there's been Hollywood. Republican President Warren G. Harding hooked his wagon to Douglas Fairbanks and Al Jolson in 1920. Basketball star and self-admitted lothario Wilt Chamberlain took a brief breather from bedding the ladies in 1968 to support Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter had the backing of Muhammad Ali and Dionne Warwick, but he lost to Ronald Reagan in 1980, who had some serious big gun endorsements himself, including Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton. Barbra Streisand stumped for Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and Bruce Springsteen was by John Kerry's side in his 2004 presidential bid.
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Battle of the Celebrity Candidate Camps
So, 2008 is the
year of the ultimate celebrito-politico pairing. You surely know by now that
media mogul Oprah's been touring virtually arm-in-arm with Democratic
hopeful Barack Obama. The Barockstar retinue includes such luminaries as Robert De Niro, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson (who made headlines coyly deflecting a
question about her possible engagement to Ryan Reynolds with the claim that she is affianced to Mr.
Obama), Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Stevie Wonder and Susan Sarandon. Barockstar's landed the "Hottie-wood"
contingent. Slightly less megawatt, but surely no less supportive, are Zach Braff, Bill Maher, Natalie Maines and, neither last nor
least, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead.
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