"Oprah's in a category of her own," says Todd Boyd, professor
at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic
Arts. "She's not a movie star. She's not a rock star. She's a
brand. She's one of the few people in the world who can be
identified only by one name."
And yet, with all that, you can't necessarily extrapolate to
politics, says Boyd. "You could argue that she didn't get to be
popular by being political. Politics has never been a big part of
her persona. This is not a slam dunk."
Courting celebrities generally is a mixed bag, say political
consultants who've been involved in the process. First, there's the
negative perception of Hollywood in some parts of the country as a
place full of wealthy liberals out of touch with real concerns.
That's why George Clooney, for example, has kept his support for
Obama out of the public realm for now.
"As far as openly campaigning, he thinks it hurts the
candidate," says Clooney spokesman Stan Rosenfield. "You lose the
heartland."
Then there's the fact that a campaign needs to be cautious.
Because, as former political speechwriter Marty Kaplan puts it,
"celebrities are always one racy joke or DUI away from an
embarrassment." (In other **>words<**, you probably don't want Paris
Hilton campaigning for you. You also might not want actress Whoopi
Goldberg, who used a racy sexual pun at a 2004 rally for Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry.)
"You do have to be careful," says Stephanie Cutter, who served
as Kerry's communications director in the 2004 campaign.
"Celebrities don't always provide a benefit. If you do an event
with them, you own what they've produced."
On the other hand, she says, the right celebrities can build
crowds to reach new voters, and provide validation for the
candidate. She cites the role played by Bruce Springsteen in the
days leading up to the general election, including an event that
brought out more than 80,000 people in Wisconsin, a critical swing
state.
Did it help fuel Kerry's narrow victory in the state? "Exit
polls don't track that sort of thing," Cutter says, "but we do
know that tens of thousands of people came out to see John Kerry
and Bruce Springsteen in the weeks before the election, and voter
contact of that magnitude before an election is priceless."
In Winfrey's case, Cutter says, "Iowa caucus-goers, especially
women, will likely come in droves to see Oprah. She appeals to a
broad demographic. To the extent that she helps bring out new or
undecided voters, she's helping Obama make a direct and personal
appeal to them for their vote." (An ABC News/Washington Post poll
released last week found Obama, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and
John Edwards locked in a tight race in Iowa, which holds its
caucuses Jan. 3.)
A poll conducted in September, not long after Winfrey held a
fundraiser for Obama, by the Pew Research Center found that 69
percent of respondents, or nearly seven in 10 Americans, would not
be influenced by Winfrey's endorsement of a political candidate. On
the other hand, 60 percent believed her support would help Obama,
and only 3 percent said it would hurt him.
There's no question that Winfrey's status is unique. She's above
Hollywood, straddling the worlds of entertainment, media and
philanthropy. "The **>Oprah Winfrey<** Show" reaches close to 9
million
Americans each day and is syndicated to 135 foreign countries. Then
there's "O," her magazine, and her Web site. Winfrey's
philanthropy has been well-publicized, especially her funding of a
school for girls in South Africa.
In Iowa, Winfrey's show wins its time slot overwhelmingly in the
state's four largest media markets _ Des Moines, Cedar Rapids,
Davenport and Sioux City. KCCI, the Des Moines station, has the
12th highest viewership in the country for the show.
With all that, Winfrey's influence with women viewers _ and
voters _ is surely of concern to the other Democratic candidates,
who might have equal-time concerns.
But legally, the show would be on solid ground even if it
featured Obama every day (he's only been on twice). The equal-time
provision of the Federal Communications Act provides exemptions to
news interview shows, and the FCC has ruled that interview segments
on talk shows get the same exemption. As it is, Winfrey says she
will not use her platform, only her personal voice, to advocate for
Obama.
The Clinton campaign, in an e-mail to The Associated Press, said
of Winfrey: "We're fans and we think it's great she is
participating in the process. Everyone has wonderful supporters,
and we're proud of ours" _ such as Steven Spielberg, Magic Johnson
and Barbra Streisand, who threw her support behind Clinton on
Tuesday.
And of course, Clinton has her husband, Bill, hitting the trail
_ "arguably as much of a media rock star as Oprah," says Kaplan,
now a professor at USC's Annenberg School of Communications. "This
is the game," Kaplan says. "And on the Republican side you have
Mike Huckabee saying, 'I'll see your Oprah and raise you Chuck
Norris."' (Other notable endorsements include Robert Duvall for
Rudy Giuliani and, for Edwards, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne.)
Democratic consultant Chris Lehane, a former Bill Clinton aide,
says that if any celebrity has the potential to make a difference,
it's Winfrey. But he sees most celebrity endorsements as having a
"cotton candy effect" _ they taste great, then evaporate into
thin air.
"If these endorsements really meant something, we'd be wrapping
up a second Gore term right now, or a first Kerry term," said
Lehane, referring to all the celebs who supported Democrats in the
last two general elections.
Whether or not Winfrey ends up helping Obama, Boyd, the USC
professor, suggests that she has little to lose with her loyal fan
base. But if Obama were to get elected, he adds, Winfrey has a lot
to gain.
"Oprah is very powerful," Boyd says. "Like most powerful
people, she wants to demonstrate her power. She wants to be a
kingmaker. If she can get a president elected, that's a big line on
an already long resume."
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