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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Iowa: Celebrity central
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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Star stumping: Danny Glover, Rob Reiner, Martin Sheen and Madonna are pumping star power into their fave Dems' runs.
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CNN's Candy Crowley on the final debate in Iowa.
CNN's Bill Schneider on the Dean campaign's basis: empowerment.
CNN's Dana Bash on the Bush criticism of Paul O'Neill.
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| UPCOMING PRIMARIES |
• Tuesday, January 13: District of Columbia primary • Monday, January 19: Iowa Caucuses • Tuesday, January 27: New Hampshire primary When is your primary? For more key dates in the 2004 election season, see our special America Votes 2004 Election Calendar |
SPECIAL REPORT
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Madonna may be a superstar and all. But, like, her candidate isn't even competing in Iowa. She's so next week.
This week, we're all about oldies-but-goodies Carole King and Joan Jett. And Rob Reiner and Danny Glover and Martin Sheen. Not to mention James Hoffa and Gerry McEntee, starring in "Labor Pains," a could-be reality TV series in which real, live union bigs crisscross Iowa to push their '04 Dem over the top.
We saw Her Madgesty justify her love for Wesley Clark last week in a breathy, Web-based fund-raising appeal. King will visit Iowa to explain why John Kerry makes the earth move under her feet. Also, look for Joan Jett to discuss why she hates herself for loving Howard Dean. From Friday through Monday, the aging rocker will travel Iowa college towns on Dean's behalf.
We all know that '04 Dems love to campaign and raise money with famous people. But starting today in Iowa, we'll get a fresh reminder that if the candidates are busy elsewhere, they're more than happy to let the famous people do their campaigning for them.
First up is Glover, one of a handful of celebs backing Dennis Kucinich (others include actress Mimi Kennedy and singers Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson). Glover, who narrates a Kucinich campaign TV ad, has taped a message that's burning up phone lines in Washington to get the city's voters to the polls for tomorrow's non-binding beauty contest.
King will be really rosy for Kerry when she touches down in Iowa tonight. King, who last performed for Kerry at the Roxy in Boston in September, is scheduled to be onstage at the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids tomorrow at 9 p.m. ET.
Dick Gephardt will inch toward becoming a celebrity in his own right tonight, participating in that newly-minted rite of passage -- appearing on a late-night talk show.
Gephardt will leave Iowa after morning events to tape "Late Night with David Letterman" at 5:30 p.m. ET at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, where he'll stay overnight before delivering what's being described as a major foreign policy speech tomorrow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
While in the Letterman green room, Gephardt can rub shoulders with actress Patricia Heaton, who plays Debra on "Everybody Loves Raymond," and Kate Bosworth of "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" (No word on which '04 Dem Heaton or Bosworth is backing, if any.)
For his part, McEntee will arrive in Iowa tomorrow to lead a four-day bus tour on Dean's behalf, which will intersect with Dean, Reiner and Sheen on Friday. We are wondering, however, when McEntee will find time for that bus tour, given all the bowling that Larry Scanlon, his political director, has scheduled for him.
Not to be outdone, Hoffa, probably the only labor big today who can claim to be a national celebrity (or at least, thanks to his dad, a household name), will arrive in Iowa on Wednesday to tour Iowa on Gephardt's behalf. Hoffa will be joined in the Hawkeye State by five other union presidents.
Also this week we're told that Dean is preparing to announce a half-dozen new endorsements from House members. The latest round will bring his total number of congressional backers to 36 (at least), which is significant because it would mean that more members are backing Dean than Gephardt, their former House leader.
Other endorsement hijinks are in store from the Dean campaign, we're told. But, alas, we can't say anything more than that, except that it doesn't involve Rep. Leonard Boswell.
And finally today, we thought we'd close with a (not so) random question that (gasp!) requires you Iowa-centric watchers to think for a minute beyond January 19: Is Wesley Clark going to beat Dean in New Hampshire? Just wondering.
