<p>Scarlett Johanssen visited Carleton this week to campaign for Barack Obama. Huge turnout of students to see her.</p>
<p>a lot of Barack supporters at Carleton?</p>
<p>D went to see Scarlett speak on behalf of Obama and was underwhelmed by her "performance". She reported that Scarlett was unable to form complete sentences of substance. It appears she reads scripts well, though.</p>
<p>My son and his friends stopped by to listen in a little, but he, too, was underwhelmed. He said an actress's opinion wasn't going to weigh heavily in his decision anyway. ;)</p>
<p>D thought she was enthusiastic for Obama, but wasn't very familiar with his platform. If nothing else, Carleton students got some good perspective on the value of celebrity endorsements.</p>
<p>Absoiutely, fireflyscout. And I pumped S about her appearance. :)</p>
<p>My daughter also attended Scarlett's rally and also heard Dule Hill speak on behalf of Obama a couple of weeks earlier. They were OK, but nothing to compare with the thrill of meeting and greeting Al Franken back in January! She knows he's one of her mother's "heroes," along with Michael Moore, Jon Stewart, and Bill Maher. No secret as to my politics, eh?</p>
<p>Yes, Hindoo, you old conservative, you. :D</p>
<p>I miss Jon Stewart (and Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert). Yes, I know they're still on, but I've got my fingers crossed for an announced end to the writers' strike on Monday. </p>
<p>I just talked to my son; he had just gotten back from a reading of King Lear. He said a retired English prof read Lear, and my son read Edgar. He said it was really fun, and since he had to read it for class anyway, this seemed like a good way to do it. I'm not sure who organized it, but it does sound like a great way to read a Shakespeare play.</p>
<p>I seem to remember Ashton Kutcher and possibly another celebrity campaigning for Kerry on campus back in '04.</p>
<p>hmm, i never thought of carleton as a big campaign stop... especially not for celebrities... but hey, i guess i'm wrong.</p>
<p>Cowbell:</p>
<p>Steven Schier is a Carleton political science professor and an oft-quoted "go-to" guy for the media. This is from a recent MPR report focusing on Carleton students' leanings:</p>
<p>"Schier says when it comes to the presidential race, the student body has made up its mind."
"It's all Obama all the time on my campus," he says, "and I think that's true on most college campuses."
MPR:</a> Younger voters look for a new kind of politics</p>
<p>Schier was proven right. 84% of the democratic vote from Carleton's electoral district went to Obama. </p>
<p>While I somehow doubt Scarlett Johansonn's appearance played any real role in Obama's local landslide win, I still suspect at least some Carleton males were more impressed by her visit than Limner's son, even if not on a "purely political level." FYI, this is a slide show posted of her visit the eve of the Super Tuesday vote.
Carleton</a> College: Carleton News: Scarlett Johansson Appearance</p>
<p>Thanks, 1190, for the link, especially since my son was no help on the important details, like what she was wearing. ;)</p>