• by August 27, 2004

THE CELEBS OF THE PRESIDENT -- Celebrity endorsements are a tried and true practice in many campaigns, but apparently not in two of the most important ones this year: the races for the White House.

And that could well be a tactical error on the part of presidential candidates, especially if they're hoping to influence younger voters, concludes media agency MediaVest, which just surveyed 1,000 Americans on the topic. While it is true that the vast majority of Americans don't perceive celebrity endorsements as influencing their voting preferences, 40 percent of adults 18 to 24 cite it as a factor. Age aside, celebrity influence also appears to have a party skew.

"Interestingly, the impact of celebrities on voting preferences appears to be a Democratic phenomenon," said Mary-Ellen Vincent senior vice president-director of insights and accountability and chief presidential pollster at MediaVest USA. "One-third of all people who intend to vote Democrat agree that they have been influenced by pro-voting campaigns such as Citizen Change and Rock the Vote, while a whipping two-thirds of Republicans strongly disagree that they have been influenced by these campaigns."

Vincent doesn't explain why celebrities are more of a draw with Democrats than Republicans, but we suspect it's because all the really cool celebs are Democratic endorsers. Even so, MediaVest's research has found that there is significant confusion among Americans in terms of which celebrities are in favor of which parties. Almost as many people consider Leonardo DiCaprio to be a Republican (22 percent) sympathizer as a Democratic supporter (23 percent). And amazingly, an almost equal percentage of Americans consider Barbra Streisand to be backing Republicans (25 percent) as Democratic (28 percent) candidates. Interestingly, Citizen Change, which was only launched two months ago by youth celebrity-of-all-trades P. Diddy, has generated a relatively high awareness (22 percent) among the 18-plus crowd. But it's not nearly as well known as MTV's Rock the Vote campaign, which is familiar to 45 percent of the 18-plus population. Not surprisingly, the awareness and impact of these youth-oriented advocacy groups is most influential with youths.

"With the 2004 Presidential election approximately three months away, Bush and Kerry have less than 70 days to court the American public and multimillion dollar campaigns will help spread that word," noted MediaVest CEO Laura Desmond. "The results of this study give us insights into some of the factors that will 1) bring more young Americans to vote; and 2) [help determine] who they will be voting for in November."

OUR (WHITE) HOUSE, IS A VERY, VERY FINE HOUSE -- Sure half the ticket has a felony record for drug possession and has sired a child for a famous Lesbian couple, but that's not standing in the way of this season's most unusual presidential campaign. It's cable TV networks that are. David Crosby and Graham Nash, who are two thirds of a famous rock trio (or one half of an even better famous rock quartet) and 100 percent of a campaign to become joint presidents of the United States, are crying foul that "some networks such as TNT and Viacom" have refused to air the Crosby Nash campaign commercial. The campaign committee claims the spot was rejected as "too political," and is bemoaning the fact that "The American public never got a fair chance to see the charisma, charm, and political-know-how Crosby and Nash will bring to the White House." Indeed. Among the duo's campaign promises are:

* Free money
* A night in the Lincoln Bedroom for a price
* Special attention to electronic voting machines

Okay, so maybe that platform won't actually get them elected. Still, we could just see Crosby & Nash cohabitating the White House, with two cats in the yard.