Hollywood Stars Turn Out To Barack the Vote
Obama does not want to appear “too Hollywood” yet celebrities want to be too Obama at L.A. election center
By Chase Masterson
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/4/08 — “Hello, my name is Donald, and I’m a volunteer with Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign,” the person on the Senator’s phone bank tells folks on cold calls to get out the vote. What people on the line in key battleground states may not have known is that they were talking to award-winning actor Donald Sutherland.
As early as 6 a.m. today at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City, the air was charged with resolve and anticipation as volunteers made calls to swing states for Barack Obama. However, the turnout consisted not only of general volunteers, but of key celeb support — even in the menial task of cold-calling.
13,000 are expected to his party in L.A. tonight, and a million in Chicago where the Illinois Senator and likely President elect will be. “We’ve had quite a few major stars making the calls,” commented Jamie Lynton, a volunteer who is the wife of Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and who sits on the National Finance Committee of Obama for America. “Orlando Bloom was in this week, and Sutherland has been here calling for six hours, as well as yesterday. He has not gotten off the phones - he’s really doing the work.”
“A lot of celebrities have come through this office to work or otherwise directly contributed this campaign: Scarlett Johansson, Danny Glover, Barbra Streisand, to name a few,” agreed Angela, a volunteer in Obama’s California campaign headquarters in Los Angeles. She said that some demographics had stars particularly out en force to recruit young voters. “Eliza Dushku was here last night, and Blake Lively has been active. I think every major soap star was here this week.”
“People tend to respect their privacy because a lot of them don’t want to be recognized. They just want to work, to demonstrate their support by being active in the campaign,” she added.
Celebrities of every ilk are turning out to support the Democratic candidate, and they’re coming from disparate backgrounds: Colin Powell and Eminem, Barry Diller and Jay-z, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and Chris Rock, Robert De Niro and Alicia Silverstone, Bill Maher and Heidi Klum, Oprah and Daniel Craig, all have shown support for the Democratic candidate.
Other wattage on Senator Obama’s team includes George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Samuel Jackson, Joy Behar, Jennifer Aniston, Natalie Portman, Mary J. Blige, and Tyra Banks.
Voices have been heard through various means not limited to campaign donations, including “get out and vote” PSAs featuring Steven Spielberg, Will Smith, Harrison Ford, Julia Roberts, Ben Stiller, Tom Cruise, Ron Howard, Andy Griffith, Henry Winkler, Cameron Diaz, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Prominent Hollywood publicist and best-selling author Michael Levine stated, “Only time will tell what effect celebrity endorsement and even campaign involvement has on the two men vying for the oval office, but one thing is for sure: no part of our culture is immune to the omnipresence of celebrity, not even electoral politics.”
Indeed, teams of Hollywood players are turning out from all aspects of the industry to make calls today. “Part of the way we’re recruiting for this is by asking volunteers to bring a team of people. Someone from Creative Artists Agency brought a team of 10 people - and we all know they’re very good on the phone. There’ s nothing more persuasive than an agent on the phone,” remarked Lynton.
When asked the single most reason Obama should be elected president, one of the many familiar faces remarked, “He’s connected to the masses.”
“We have mobilized the biggest phone bank operation in the history of politics. We made 1.2 million calls yesterday, and we’re probably going to surpass that today. We made over one million calls on Saturday and Sunday. Our target was half a million, and we never thought we’d able to reach that. But something about the call to action that Barack Obama has put out has inspired people to do the work.”
“The campaign was able to harness that energy in a remarkably organized way,” Lynton continued. “There are only 14 paid positions in California, but we’re doing as many calls as the other states combined.”
“For weeks and weeks, we’ve put together voter lists in battleground states, identifying Obama supporters and getting them on the phones,” continued Lynton. “The work we’ve been doing for past two months is allowing the campaign to execute its “Get Out the Vote” operation in the swing states. We make the phone calls, and that gives the canvassers in the battleground states the information they need to knock on doors. We have thousands of people mobilized.”
“Hollywood is often accused of just being about raising money and raising their own profile. In this campaign, people have rolled up their sleeves and gotten to work,” Lynton added, citing President of CW Television Network Dawn Ostroff, Rita Wilson, Laurie David, and Kelly Meyer, wife of NBC President and COO Ron Meyer.
“I hope I helped get the votes of some people who were undecided,” mentioned renowned producer Mark R. Harris, who produced the Oscar-winning film “Crash” and is now Co-Executive Producer of the STARZ series of the same name, which deals in part with racism.
“It’s different than a lot other campaigns in that it’s been a huge volunteer effort.
There’s not a big divide between fundraising and field work. Everyone, no matter who they are, is just buckling down wherever necessary in order to make this happen.”
“I’ve never seen a campaign that been able to get people from all walks of life to do that kind of hard work before, and I’ve been doing presidential politics for a long time,” closed Lynton. She emphasized that the campaign is urging anyone who is available to phone bank to come to the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel for the Mega Phone Bank until 8 pm tonight.
Chase Masterson is a writer, producer and an actress well-known for her”Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” appearances