Stars Out For Obama
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- After spending the weekend with Oprah Winfrey in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire, Barack Obama headed west for a star-studded Hollywood fund-raiser headlined by the Goo Goo Dolls and R&B pop singer Ne-Yo.
Similar to Oprah, most of the celebrities who spoke at the event said this was their first time publicly endorsing a political candidate or become involved in the political process. Actor Nick Cannon said his experience in the movie, "Bobby," made him more aware of politics. "I just want to encourage all the young people here tonight to continue that movement that was going on in the '60s and '70s," Cannon said.
TV personality and former CBS News and NBC News correspondent Giselle Fernandez said that as a journalist she never became involved in presidential campaign. "But, these are very different times," she said.
Celebrities also urged the thousands who showed up to help Obama become elected. Veteran actor James Whitmore called Obama "superior in intelligence," and urged the crowd to "do some of the hard work to assist him in becoming the next president."
Actor Kal Penn, best known his starring role in "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle," has been volunteering for the Obama campaign in Iowa. Tonight, he actor said he is going back to the state in the morning.
For his part, Obama stuck to the stump speech. He received loud applause when he promised to end the Iraq war and end the genocide in Darfur. Obama also joked that he will be releasing his kindergarten papers in the morning – a reference to a jab from Hillary Clinton who said recently that Obama has wanted to run for president since he was in kindergarten.
"There is some scandalous stuff," Obama said, "I experimented with coloring outside the lines when I was in kindergarten. Pulled on a girl's pony tail once…and liked it."
Obama heads to Seattle on today for a similar fundraising event.