Fan Fare
Entertainment behind the scenes
Carrie Underwood disses celeb political endorsements
Celebrities have come out in force during the long U.S. presidential race, hosting fundraisers, throwing concerts and performing at campaign rallies around the nation.
But not country star Carrie Underwood.
Unlike Barbra Streisand, who’s been doing a round of last minute radio station Q&As in support of Democrat Barack Obama, Underwood is staying mum.
“I lose all respect for celebrities when they back a candidate,” the “All-American Girl” singer tells TV Guide in its November 10th issue.
“It’s saying that the American public isn’t smart enough to make their own decisions,” she said. “I would never want anybody to vote for anything or anybody just because I told them to.
Update – Babs backs Obama on radio in battleground states
It’s not new that Barbra Streisand is backing Sen. Barack Obama for president. But 
it is unusual when Streisand goes so far as to take to radio airwaves in battleground states to answer callers’ questions on live shows, which is what she is doing on Monday and Tuesday.
With Monday’s radio campaigning done, Streisand moved on to Florida and other states on Tuesday. She’ll be working the phones again from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. est in this order: WJNO in West Palm Beach, Florida; WEPM in Martinsburg, West Virginia; AURN in Pittsburgh; WXKC-FM in Erie, Pennsylvania; WZAZ in Jacksonville, Florida; and WCBQ in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
Singers for Obama release “Yes We Can” album
You’ve heard them at the Obama campaign rallies and speeches for months, and
now all those Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer and Los Lonely Boys songs that warm up the Democratic Party crowds have been put together on one album.
Billed as the first-ever presidential campaign compilation, the 18-song disc “Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement” also includes excerpts from speeches given by Barack Obama and goes on sale exclusively on the campaign’s official Web site on Friday.
Barbra Streisand to sing for Obama
Singer-actress Barbra Streisand, who originally endorsed Hillary Clinton in the U.S. presidential primary race, has jumped on Barack Obama’s bandwagon with both feet to sing for the newly anointed Democratic nominee at a Beverly Hills fund-raiser next week. Organizers say the hurriedly planned Sept. 16 event will probably mark Obama’s final stop on the Hollywood political money trail before the November election.
According to political consultant Andy Spahn, a co-host of the fund-raiser, the evening will begin with a dinner for the Illinois senator and about 250 guests at the landmark Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. Dinner will be followed by a reception in Obama’s honor at the main ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, featuring a performance by Streisand and others. The ballroom holds a crowd of up to 800 people.
George Michael has tip for Obama – team up with Clinton
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.”
Barbra Streisand backs Obama
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/.
