Newswise — Fear of Armageddon sweeps through the air, as Hollywood heavyweights face off about who's the better presidential candidate. While Bruce Willis is a pronounced supporter of President Bush, his Armageddon co-star Ben Affleck throws his weight behind John Kerry. According to Northeastern University professor of journalism Alan Schroeder, Hollywood is in the thick of it, but candidates may soon grow weary of the attention.
Affleck and Willis are not the only celebrities to take sides in the up-coming election; Sean Austin, Robert DeNiro, and Robin Williams all support Kerry, while Kelsey Grammer and comedian Dennis Miller have joined the Bush camp, says Schroeder.
"An upside to celebrity endorsement of a candidate is that a star can glamorize a campaign," says Schroeder. "Someone like John Kerry, who's not the most charismatic politician, can, by associating with a celebrity can make himself look like celebrity." But, Schroeder points out, the chief advantage of celebrity endorsements are the endowments many of them make, as well as the money they are able to raise, whether through personal contributions or fund raising events.
"Celebrities attract people, and their talent helps to sell tickets to fund raising events," said Schroeder. But having celebrity endorsements doesn't always cast a rosy glow for a candidate.
"Hollywood is a dirty word for conservatives," says Schroeder. There can be a backlash that accompanies celebrities associated with politicians, and candidates can be accused of being out of touch with real people's issues, having inflated egos, he said. Politicians can also be caught in uncomfortable or embarrassing situations due to their celebrity affiliation. For example, when documentary film director Michael Moore, an avid supporter of Wesley Clark, called President Bush "a deserter," Clark was riddled with questions about the comment, distracting from his campaign goals.
"Celebrities have minds of their own, and candidates don't want the story's focus to shift away from them," said Schroeder. "Celebrities live by different rules than the candidates, they say and do things that could backfire on the candidates and are often looked at as pampered and egotistical."
Alan Schroeder is an expert in presidential debates, political reporting, campaign tactics, presidential campaigns, can speak knowledgeably about the style and tactics of the current presidential candidates, and the increasingly tight relationship between Hollywood and politics. He is the author of "Celebrity-in-Chief: How Show Business Took Over the White House" and "Presidential Debates: 40 Years of High-Risk TV." A former TV news producer and veteran journalist, Schroeder has written a number of scholarly articles on political debates, campaign documentaries, Hollywood films, and the history of television news. A frequent media commentator, he has been quoted as an expert source by the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and USA Today, and has appeared on ABC's Good Morning America, the BBC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and NPR's Fresh Air and Morning Edition.
Northeastern University, located in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, is a world leader in cooperative education and recognized for its expert faculty and first-rate academic and research facilities. Through co-op, Northeastern undergraduates alternate semesters of full-time study with semesters of paid work in fields relevant to their professional interests and major, giving them nearly two years of professional experience upon graduation. The majority of Northeastern graduates receive a job offer from a co-op employer. Cited for excellence two years running by U.S. News & World Report, Northeastern was named a top college in the northeast by the Princeton Review 2003/04. In addition, Northeastern's career services was awarded top honors by Kaplan Newsweek's "Unofficial Insiders Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges and Universities," 2003 edition. For more information, please visit http://www.northeastern.edu.
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