Aligning the stars

I woke up with a start yesterday, with my first thought being to switch on the television to CNN to catch history in the making. When I fell asleep the previous night—or, more precisely, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning—the Americans were just starting to vote their new president into power. Surveys tilted towards Obama’s favor, but pundits still McCain victory was not too far behind. Well, now we know who won and that America made history yesterday by electing Sen. Barack Obama as the first African-American president of the United States.

In terms of popular votes, it was a close battle. The last numbers I saw were 48–51, in favor of Obama, but in terms of the electoral college, it was a landslide victory for the half-white, half-black American who still has family in Kenya and who once upon a time studied in Indonesia where he lived with his mother and Indonesian Muslim then-stepfather.

We’re in for interesting times. And it was also an interesting year for entertainment celebrities who were pretty vocal about who they were backing.

Some Celebrity Endorsers for McCain: Dan Aykroyd, Stephen Baldwin, Pat Boone, Wilford Brimley, Jerry Bruckheimer, James Caan, Dean Cain, Lacey Chabert, Jon Cryer, Daddy Yankee (Ramon Ayala), Robert Davi, Robert Duvall, Clint Eastwood, Erik Estrada (from CHiPs!), Lou Ferrigno (one of the earlier Hulks), Kelsey Grammer (otherwise known as Frasier), Angie Harmon, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Patricia Heaton (Raymond’s wife in Everybody Loves Raymond), Lorenzo Lamas (Falcon Crest and The Bold and the Beautiful hottie), Gerald McRaney (who appeared as Dan’s father in season two of One Tree Hill), Dennis Miller, Heidi Montag, Craig T. Nelson (who portrayed the coach in Blades of Glory), Gail O’Grady, John Ondrasik, John Rich, Shauna Sand (Playboy model), Joan Rivers, Tom Selleck, Gary Sinise (Det. Mac Taylor in CSI: NY), Kevin Sorbo, Sylvester Stallone, Connie Stevens, Janine Turner, Rip Torn, Dick Van Patten, Jon Voight, James Woods, Arnold Schwarzenegger (now California governor who taunted Obama about his need to beef up his frame), Bruce Willis, James Woods, Kurt Russel, Kathy Hilton (Paris’ mother), Marilyn Manson, John Ratzenberger.

Some Celebrity Endorsers for Obama: Oprah Winfrey (I wonder how many fans she lost, if any, for this), Matthew Broderick (who appeared in an ad before election day telling people to “take the day off” to volunteer for the elections), 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, Nicole Richie and Joel Madden, Matt Damon, Celine Dion, Kathy Griffin (the self-proclaimed “D-list celebrity”), Perez Hilton (celebrity blogger, who, I heard, makes around $100,000 a month on his blog), Hulk Hogan, Hayden Panettiere (the cheerleader in Heroes), Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan, Sarah Silverman, Woody Allen, J.J. Abrams, Will Ferrell, John Leguizamo, Cedric the Entertainer, Spike Lee, George Lucas, Milos Forman, Rob Reiner, Garry Marshall, Eli Roth, Martin Scorsese, M. Night Shyamalan, Steven Spielberg, Michael Moore, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Aniston, Patricia Arquette, Rosanna Arquette, Kevin Bacon, Scott Bakula, Alec Baldwin, Eric Balfour, Antonio Banderas, Drew Barrymore, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Beals, Annette Bening, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jack Black, Adam Brody, Josh Brolin, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Buscemi, Don Cheadle, John Cleese, Glenn Close, George Clooney, Bill Cosby, Kevin Costner, Daniel Craig, Cindy Crawford, Chris Crocker, James Cromwell, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ted Danson, Geena Davis, Rosario Dawson, Robert De Niro, Zooey Deschanel, Danny Devito, Leonardo DiCaprio, Taye Diggs, Fran Drescher (The Nanny), Kirsten Dunst, Tina Fey (who’s been impersonating Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live), Sally Field, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Jamie Foxx, Michael J. Fox, Brendan Fraser, Morgan Freeman, Richard Gere, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bill Paxton, Amanda Peet, Kal Penn, Sean Penn, Ryan Phillippe, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Oliver Platt, Natalie Portman, Dennis Quaid, John C. Reilly, Chris Rock, Brandon Routh, Paul Rudd, Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen, Ben Stiller, Meryl Streep, Donald Sutherland, Charlize Theron, Chris Tucker, Blair Underwood, Denzel Washington.

It’s apparent that Obama had the younger crowd backing him. CNN pundits had statistics showing how McCain got the senior vote, while Obama got the votes of the younger generation, first-time voters included. But what about celebrity endorsers? I don’t know if we can say that made a difference, as a celebrity endorsement can either bring in more votes or invite scorn. I don’t know if this will also start a trend for local politics. Then again, not so long ago, Judy Ann Santos’ endorsement did win a senate seat for a virtual political newbie.

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