The Movie Star and McCain

From CBS News’ John Bentley:

While John McCain’s campaign may not be attracting the star power of Barack Obama’s camp – Scarlett Johansson and Oprah Winfrey spring to mind – the grizzled actor Robert Duvall appeared with McCain at three high dollar fundraisers tonight, which raked in over $2 million for his presidential effort.

“I’m not from Hollywood,” Duvall said. “I’m from Virginia.” He went on talk about how inspiring he found McCain’s stories from his time as a prisoner in Vietnam, saying it showed leadership. “He’s now serving his country in another way, and I plan to vote for him,” Duvall said, to cheers from the crowds of donors.

McCain spoke for about 15 minutes to the three crowds, which averaged about 150 people each. He told stories from the campaign trail, including how Michigan Congressman Fred Upton mistakenly took him on a tour of a funeral home in Traverse City, which McCain feared would become a metaphor for his campaign. “Thanks to Fred, we lost Michigan by nine points,” he said.

Upton, who was in crowd, shouted back, “But you won Traverse City!”

“Yeah,” McCain said drily. “All 10 votes.”

McCain wrapped up his speeches with words of encouragement for the donors, many of whom shelled out thousands of dollars to see him speak. “We won’t raise as much money as our opponent, but we will certainly raise enough to win,” McCain said. “I will out-campaign Sen. Obama for the presidency of the United States.”