As the Nov. 4 U.S. presidential election draws near, New York’s Fashion Week has launched its own campaign — for style.

The entrance to the tents at Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, where designers are showing their spring/summer 2009 collections, are painted with large campaign-like badges that read “Declare your Style,” “Fashion = Change,” “Vote Fashion, “Super Model Delegate,” and “Accessorize for Democracy.”

And this week Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign is holding a fundraiser, due to be attended by top designers who have created merchandise for sale on the Obama Web site. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker and Vogue Editor Anna Wintour are said to be special guests for the evening.

Some designers, too,  have declared more than just their style on the runway. Liz McClean sent her final model down the catwalk on Friday wearing a Barack Obama campaign badge. Charlotte Ronson took on a different cause with her show Saturday sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States, which beamed its logo onto walls either side of the runway.

Ronson’s collection attracted a lot of attention with her DJ brother Mark providing music for the show, and DJ sister Samantha sitting in the front row with gal pal Lindsay Lohan.

U.S. tennis player Andy Roddick checked out the Lacoste show on Saturday, while Friday night Australian actress Melissa George and “Prison Break” star Camille Guaty graced the front row at Nicole Miller.

But the fashion and celebrities aren’t always center of attention.

A model at Korean designers Andy and Debb’s show on Saturday earned applause from the crowd when she finished her catwalk without missing a beat – after her four-inch heel fell off her shoe.

Barack Obama won yet more celebrity endorsements at the Venice film festival this year, although whether he would welcome them or not is a different matter.

From the very first press conference, stars from Hollywood who came to the canal city to promote their movies voiced support for the Democratic presidential candidate, although in the case of George Clooney and Brad Pitt, they were careful not to steal too much of the political limelight from Obama.

Presumably they were aware that Obama has come under fire from Republican rival John McCain for being a “celebrity” candidate, in other words a man of style over substance.

Oscar-winning Jonathan Demme, who brought “Rachel Getting Married” to the Lido, said his multi-racial drama reflected the America he loved — one where Obama could be a presidential contender.

And Kathryn Bigelow, director of Iraq war feature “The Hurt Locker“, entered the fray towards the end of the 11-day festival, which winds up on Saturday.

“I hope and pray that that’s imminent,” she said, when asked if she supported the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. “I think with a change of administration it’s possible. But only one man is capable of doing that and that’s Mr. Barack Obama.”

It’s no surprise talk show host Oprah Winfrey was wowed by Sen. Barack Obama’s speech in Denver. After all, she endorsed him last year and may have swayed early primary voters in Obama’s direction.

But O went beyond just being enthused by Obama’s speech on Thursday, as the presidential candidate accepted the Democratic Party nomination. “Just seeing him on stage, I cried my eyelashes off,” Winfrey told a reporter with the TV show Entertainment Tonight.

Rapper Kanye West, 31, who was with Winfrey, was also effusive about the speech. “It changed my life,” West told ET. In reaction to West, Winfrey went on to say it changed her life, too. “We have to do whatever it takes to get him in office,” she said.

The Democratic National Convention in Denver was a virtual who’s who of celebrity backers with actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, who are married, showing up. There were director Steven Spielberg, actor Forest Whitaker and singer Jennifer Lopez, and that’s not even counting the stars — including Stevie Wonder — who performed on-stage at the DNC.

Obama’s rival in the run for the White House, Republican Senator John McCain, has attacked Obama as little more than a celebrity himself in a campaign advertisement.

But McCain also has his own stable of celebrity backers. Actor Dean Cain, 42, who played Superman on the 1990s television show “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” spoke of his support for McCain to Larry King on cable network CNN following Obama’s speech.

McCain also has the support of Latin singer Daddy Yankee and reality star Heidi Montag. Stay tuned — as they say in television — to see what kind of star power turns out for the Republican National Convention, which starts on Monday.

Sex, religion, now politics. Madonna, true to style, has kicked off her world concert tour “Sticky & Sweet” with controversy by juxtaposing images of Adolf Hitler with John McCain, the Republican senator running for president alongside Democratic Senator Barack Obama and with Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe. Obama was named in a sequence with Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon and Al Gore.  ”Outrageous, unacceptable and crudely divisive,” said McCain’s camp.

Madonna, who turned 50 this month, is listed as one of the world’s most successful female recording artists of all time, having sold over 200 million records in a career spanning 25 years.  Do you think she fuels controversy to keep fans coming back for more or is it a personal mission for The Material Girl? 

In this presidential election year, partisan politics have ruled the roost. But the Grammy Foundation plans to buck that trend by bringing live shows to both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
    
First on deck is the Dems’ gathering, which starts this Monday, Aug. 25. The Grammy Foundation announced this week that to accompany the convention in Denver, Colorado, the organization will have a concert in the city featuring performances by Grammy-nominated rockers Daughtry and Everclear, as well as the Flobots, a Denver-based band that combines alternative rock and hip-hop.
    
The show will happen on Aug. 26, and benefit the Grammy Foundation, a charitable arm of The Recording Academy that works to promote arts education and cultural preservation. The Recording Academy gives out the top U.S. music awards, the Grammys.
    
In 2000, the band Rage Against the Machine famously rocked fans outside the Democratic National Convention in a Los Angeles show that ended in clashes between police and protesters.
    
This year’s Grammy Foundation events promise to be decidedly less explosive affairs. The organization has pledged to use the events to inform party leaders about issues in the music industry.
    
The four-day Republican National Convention starts on Sept. 1 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On Sept. 2 The Recording Academy will host “The Songwriters Circle: The Songs We Love” in Minneapolis. Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James, who wrote the song “Jesus Take the Wheel,” recorded by Carrie Underwood, will perform along with rising star Greg Laswell, another singer-songwriter.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis) 

WASHINGTON - You knew she wouldn’t take this lying down.
 
Paris Hilton struck back Tuesday at Republican presidential candidate John McCain for running a campaign ad that likened Democratic rival Barack Obama’s celebrity to that of the blond socialite and to singer Britney Spears.

The video, posted on the Web site www.FunnyorDie.com, began with images of the 71-year-old Arizona senator: “He’s the oldest celebrity in the world, like super-old. Old enough to remember when dancing was a sin and beer was served in a bucket. But, is he ready to lead?”
    
Then the camera turned on the blond socialite, sitting on a poolside lounge chair in a skimpy leopard-print bathing suit.
    
“Hey America, I am Paris Hilton and I’m a celebrity too,” she said. “Only I’m not from the olden days and I am not promising change like that other guy. I’m just hot.”
    
“But then that wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I’m running for president. And I want America to know that I’m like, totally ready to lead.”

(Originally posted by Doina Chiacu)

Comic fans attending this week’s Comic-Con Convention in San Diego have come face-to-face with two new superheroes battling for the good of the planet — Barack Obama and John McCain. The two U.S.  presidential contenders feature like superheroes on the front covers of two graphic novel biographies published by IDW Publishing.

“Presidential Material: Barack Obama” is written by Jeff Mariotte with artwork by Tom Morgan and “Presidential Material: John McCain” is written by Andy Helfer with artwork by Stephen Thompson. The cover art was created by fan favourite J. Scott Campbell. Both books are due to go on sale on Oct 8 but copies can be ordered in advance at www.presidentialcomics.com.

The books can also be purchased to be downloaded on mobile phones.

(Photos courtesy of IDW Publishing)

George Michael has a tip for U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama — team up with former rival Hillary Clinton — as the British pop star joined the growing band of celebrities rallying behind the senator for Illinois.

Michael, 45, touring North America for the first time in 17 years, told fans — including “Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker — during a concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden: “I know you guys all need a change.”

While he admitted he doesn’t know what kind of change Obama would bring if elected — saying that after “months of watching CNN” he still does not know what Obama or Clinton stand for, but if Obama “takes on Hillary, I’ll know he’s got some balls.” He said Obama and Clinton were the strongest team.

Michael, has sold more than 85 million records with hits like “Careless Whisper” and “Faith,” rocked the New York arena during the first of two shows in the city, as he nears the end of a seven week, 22 city North American tour.

Michael rose to fame in the early 1980s as one-half of the singing duo Wham!, which scored the huge hit single “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.”  But it was as a solo artist with 1987’s “Faith” that he broke into the ranks of pop superstars. 

Michael, whose given name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, ran into trouble with police in Beverly Hills, California in 1998 when he was arrested for engaging in a lewd act in a public restroom. He pleaded no-contest, was fined a small amount and ordered to perform community service. The incident forced him to openly disclose his homosexuality and his relationship with American Kenny Goss.

During Monday’s show he dedicated his song “Amazing” to Goss, who was in the audience, and commented at one point that gay marriage should be legal in New York.

Other celebrities to back Obama include Oprah Winfrey, Barbra Streisand, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Halle Berry and Steven Spielberg.

– Reporting by Michelle Nichols

Likening Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama to a political “trailblazer,” singer Barbra Streisand has become the latest Hollywood celebrity to join the Obama campaign bandwagon, switching from her past support of Sen. Hillary Clinton.

“Barack has awakened in many of us the notion that we can again be hopeful, enabling us to believe that we are capable of lifting our brothers and sisters out of poverty, of providing quality education for all our children, of ending this unjust war in Iraq and bringing our troops home safely,” Streisand wrote on Tuesday in a posting on her Web site, http://www.barbrastreisand.com/.

“He’s reminded us ‘yes we can’…we can make the transition from fossil fuels to green energy; we can take care of our elderly and make sure that good healthcare is not just a perk for a few, but a right for every man, woman and child,” she said. ”We are experiencing not just a presidential campaign, but a movement; a movement of inspired young people who have been cynical about politics for too long.”

Since narrowly defeating Clinton at the end of the U.S. primary elections in June, Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, has picked up numerous endorsements. Clinton, a U.S. Senator from New York, has appeared with him in a show of Democratic party unity. Last week, Obama held a fundraiser in Los Angeles that raised some $4 million to $5 million, and several Hollywood stars such as Dennis Quaid and Samuel L. Jackson were there.

Streisand, of course, is a major Hollywood celebrity and fundraiser for Democrats. Yet, celebrity endorsements have a mixed track record in helping candidates, the experts say. Republican candidate Sen. John McCain also has celebrity endorsements including from actors Sylvester Stallone and Robert Duvall.

Barack Obama found himself surrounded by Hollywood stars at a Los Angeles fundraiser on Tuesday that raised $4 million to more than $5 million for Democrats and the Illinois senator’s presidential campaign, according to a press pool report and the Los Angeles Times.

Obama told the crowd he knew his long campaign against former Democrat presidential rival Hillary Clinton “caused some heartburn and some frustration.” But he added, “we were allies then and we’re allies now.”

Clinton had enjoyed strong support in Los Angeles and among Hollywood’s stars, who first warmed to her when her husband Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992.  But many in her camp are now joining the Obama bandwagon in a sign of party unity against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

Obama spoke to an audience that included actors Samuel L. Jackson, Dennis Quaid and Don Cheadle, as well as Sherry Lansing, the former CEO of Paramount Pictures. British-born singer Seal performed his ballad “Kiss from a Rose” and the Sam Cooke soul classic “A Change is Gonna Come,” an apparent reference to Obama’s campaign theme of change.

Seal was introduced by Quaid, who told the crowd: “He’s here tonight to sing for the superman for everyone — Barack Obama.” Rapper Will.i.am of the group the Black Eyed Peas and retired boxer “Sugar” Ray Leonard also were in attendance.

The event was held amid glass chandeliers at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, a performance venue that in years past hosted the Oscars.

Money raised at the fundraiser will be split between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Tickets to the reception cost $2,300 per person, and VIP tickets cost $28,500 per couple, which allowed those VIPs to attend a dinner with Obama.