Spring Break
Primary Journal | OMG! I voted with a TV star
By: Rick Rojas
Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: News
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Political strategists have deciphered that the young vote - people ages 18 to 30 - are the missing link between a candidate and a victory at the last major stop of the 2008 campaign. And celebrities, they hypothesize, are the bond that can bring the two together.
Enter Chuck Norris. Because of his hope for a Huckabee presidency, Norris made the 20-minute drive from his ranch in Navasota to the campus of Texas A&M Friday to speak to an audience of mostly college students wearing T-shirts, baseball caps and backpacks, and too young to rent a car.
What he saw, though, wasn't a group who thought a firsthand glance at an almost 70-year-old cult hero in his Western wear was worth skipping a class on a Friday afternoon. Norris said he saw the future.
"It's going to be up to the college people to decide who our president is going to be," he said, looking like he just walked off the opening credits of "Walker" - except shorter, a little older and without Trivette at his side to make cheesy comments.
The speech wasn't particularly stirring or grand, but you'd have thought Ronald Reagan descended from the rafters to make the 2008 sequel to "A Time for Choosing." (History lesson: That's the speech that Reagan made at the 1964 Republican Convention on behalf of candidate Barry Goldwater considered as the harbinger of modern conservatism's rise and Reagan's own presidency.)
Norris handed the mic back to Huckabee after eloquently explaining that he shaved off his beard because he's about to leave for vacation. Yeah! Woo! Whoop! The crowd screamed like a hoard of pre-teens at Hannah Montana.
Mission accomplished.
Well, kind of. Yes, Rudder Theater was filled to the brim with young people; there was even an overflow room with 1,500 people. And, yes, they heard Mike Huckabee's dream of a hopeful, happy America. But many entered thinking they would have a chance at seeing Chuck Norris in the flesh, and left giddy because they did.
"I'm sure some people came out today just because of Chuck Norris," said Cameron Weinzettle, a senior recreation, park and tourism sciences major. He says he was there for Huckabee - not Norris - because he's one of the governor's ardent supporters.
His friend, Buck Burchett, a senior agcricultural development major, added: "He could have been some left-wing, liberal actor out here, I'd still be out here for him."
If that's more of what you were looking for, the sidewalk across the street from the Brazos County Courthouse in Bryan was the place to be on Friday night. The voting may have actually been taking place across the street. But on that corner, actors Ben McKenzie and Kerry Washington posed for pictures, lighting the otherwise dark downtown thoroughfare with the flashes of pocket digital cameras, in the name of Sen. Barack Obama.
Was this an opportunity to use their celebrity for political gain? Nah, of course not! "We don't think there's anything special about celebrity," said Washington, who acted in the Academy Award-winning films "The Last King of Scotland" and "Ray," and has campaigned in nine states for Obama.
It is, instead, her acting as an everyday American thinking about the future of her country. She said she's tired of seeing Bushes and Clintons on the ballot for president throughout her life and Obama, to her, is the exciting alternative.
Everyday American, though? Like college students would gather to take pictures and talk about Barack Obama in the dark with John Smith and Suzy Q. Public. "It's a responsibility to use that [celebrity] in a positive manner," replied McKenzie, who starred in "The OC."
The consensus about the role of celebrity endorsements always seems to be the same, no matter who you ask: It doesn't have any weight in my choice, but I could see how it could for some.
For Jennifer McCreary, a freshman biomedical science major, Huckabee's rally was the first political event she's attended. "That's nice what they think," she said. "I'm not going to vote for someone because Chuck Norris is voting for them - even though he is awesome!"
But if there's any doubt, Huckabee offered a stark warning. There's more to Norris than star power. He's got the power to kick butt, as seen on TV. He warned, "Vote for me or Chuck Norris is going to roundhouse kick you in the face."
Rick Rojas, a sophomore political science major, is a staff writer for The Battalion.
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