Due Diligence: Celebrities flood into Philly as race for president goes into final stretch

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In a spirited fusion of music and politics, Bruce Springsteen and John Legend electrified a near-capacity crowd Monday night at Temple University’s Liacouras Center. The audience not only reveled in the star-studded performances but also showed support for prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Mayor Cherelle Parker.

Springsteen kicked off his set with “Promised Land” and led into “Land of Hope and Dreams” before closing with the crowd-pleaser “Dancing in the Dark.” John Legend’s earlier set kicked off the evening with a short yet impactful performance. Amid the musical highlights, the overarching message was clear: With just eight days until the election, there’s an urgent need to mobilize voters.

“Donald Trump does not understand this country its history or what it means to be deeply American,” Springsteen told the crowd. “That’s why on Nov. 5 I’m casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and I urge all of you who believe in the American way to join me.”

Springsteen and Legend have been far from the first or only A-List celebrities to show up in Philadelphia recently. In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking the portal at LOVE Park actually transports stars between here and Hollywood, where actors and luminaries happily step through to roam the streets of the City of Brotherly Love to make their voices known.

The vast majority of celebrities that showed up — including John Legend, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Tessa Thompson, and Mark Ruffalo — came to stump for Vice President Kamala Harris.

On the Republican side, Elon Musk has now made multiple trips to Pennsylvania himself, most recently to Lancaster County. Many other performers have endorsed Donald Trump – including Mel Gibson, Brett Favre, Zachary Levi, Hulk Hogan, Dr. Phil and Dennis Quaid, but few have ventured to our region to knock on doors or motivate volunteers.

One famous face who made the trip for Harris, Don Cheadle, told me he crossed the country because he sees the stakes as high as ever.

“I just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just talking about it, that I was being about it,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen such a stark contrast between two candidates in my lifetime. I’m a father and I’m a husband and I’m a citizen who cares about the climate and cares about the economic situation.”

I asked Cheadle what he thought about Republicans who say performers should stay in their lane.

“Was that Hulk Hogan that said that? Was it Kid Rock?” he shot back. “That’s ridiculous. We’re all citizens. Everyone has a right to say what they feel and represent the things that they want to see in the world and support those and champion them. It’s obviously what’s said when you want to silence somebody, but one of the people that’s been saying it the loudest was on a show called The Celebrity Apprentice. So it’s ridiculous on the face of it.”

Conscious rapper Common, who was campaigning at Philadelphia Community College, was part of the Harris campaign’s efforts to get out the young Black vote. He answered the question too.

“We’re human beings,” he said. “We have families. Our hearts beat. We care about people, we care about our loved ones. We care about ourselves, and we care about the world being better and our country being better. So, I mean, an entertainer is a profession. I don’t think you would tell, or I hope you don’t tell people working in hospitals to stay in their lane or teachers to stay in their lane or construction workers to stay in their lane.”

Common added that he thought Harris was the better candidate but also said that she represented hope for other Americans.

“A woman being president will change the trajectory of a lot of our young people’s vision for themselves,” he said. “It is beyond just politics.”

Much ink has been spilled on whether celebrity endorsements make a difference. Springsteen performed on the campaign stage back in 2008 for Barack Obama, who went on to handily win that election. He also tried to help out Hillary Clinton in 2016, even playing right here in Philadelphia. The election after that concert did not see the first woman elected as president,  but The Boss came back to Philly to play again for another woman seeking the highest office.

Headcount, a non-partisan organization that works to “use the power of music and popular culture to register voters and promote participation in democracy,” reported a greater than 500% increase in the number of registrants between the ages of 18 and 24 in the days after Taylor Swift endorsed Harris. That includes more than 30,000 people who registered in Pennsylvania.

Studies on whether endorsements do much have been varied, but a Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management survey found that Oprah may have played a key role in Obama’s victory. A Harvard University Kennedy School of Government study conducted just a couple of months ago argued that celebrities can help “promote voter participation, including voter education and mobilization efforts” which, a Harris campaign staffer told me, was the primary purpose behind the event at Temple.

In other words, the campaign sees a stadium full of 15,000 supporters it hopes to convert to door knockers and phone bankers, creating a potential multiplier effect in the last few days as both campaigns scramble to get their supporters to the polls on Tuesday.

That also appeared to work on attendees I talked to after the event.

“I’m going to go home and I’m going to go canvass more because that’s my ticket for the experience,” said Sylvia Luci. “I pay my ticket by saying I’m going to volunteer one more time.”

Pennsylvania Team Trump Spokesman Kush Desai appeared underwhelmed by what he called the Democrats’ “continued reliance on celebrities and Barack Obama, a president from over 10 years ago.”

“Glitzy celebrities and presidents of yesteryear aren’t going to make up for a mediocre message, disastrous record, and less-than-appealing candidate,” Desai said in a statement.