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. 

Seats for the dinner and reception together go for a whopping $28,500 per person, but supporters who just want to hear Babs sing for Obama can get in for as little as $2,500 per ticket, Spahn said. At those prices, the two-part event could bring in nearly $9 million, making it the biggest single Democratic fund-raiser for the current election cycle. The money would be divided between Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Other members of the hosting committee include DreamWorks studio co-founders Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Spahn said the rest of the evening’s entertainment lineup has yet to be confirmed.

Streisand, 66, one of Hollywood’s leading Democratic activists and donors, was a longtime supporter of former President Bill Clinton and backed the presidential primary campaign of his wife until Obama finally clinched the nomination in June. At that point Streisand, an Oscar winner for her 1968 film debut in the musical “Funny Girl,” immediately switched her allegiance to Obama.

Rarely performing in public, Streisand sang at fund-raisers for the last two Democratic presidential nominees — Sen. John Kerry in 2004 and then-Vice President Al Gore in 2000. They both lost to Republican George W. Bush.

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? 

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)

Fan Fare humbly suggests that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama considers a rank outsider to be his running mate in forthcoming elections — Bob Dylan.

As the world’s media ponders who Obama will pick as his vice presidential candidate, we’d like to throw the 67-year-old singer/songwriter/poet into the ring. He has a name that travels across borders, is a cultural icon (surely that overused word is justified in this case) and he could come up with a mean campaign song to rally the followers.

Dylan recently praised Obama for redrawing the U.S. political map. “Poverty is demoralising. You can’t expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we’ve got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up…Barack Obama,” Dylan told the Times newspaper in a recent interview. ”He’s redefining what a politician is, so we’ll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I’m hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.”

Returning to the theme of that campaign song, how about something along the lines of “The Times, They Are A-Changin’”? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

She can sing. She can Dance. And new mom Christina Aguilera can also rock the U.S. presidential election — or, at least try.

Rock the Vote, which aims to engage young voters in the U.S. political process, said pop star Aguilera would help launch the group’s 2008 U.S. public service campaign starting on Wednesday. She will urge people to register and cast their votes in the upcoming election that will send a new president to the White House and senators and congressmen to Capitol Hill.

The new advertisement opens with Grammy winner Aguilera, who has sold over 25 million records around the world, singing a lullaby rendition of “America the Beautiful” to her newborn son Max, who is wrapped in the American flag. She ends the spot with a call “to make history” and “rock the vote.” 

“Voting is a right that we are fortunate enough to have and one that we should not take for granted. I encourage all young people to use this right and realize they can make a difference,” Aguilera, 27, said in a statement.

Along with the Aguilera ad, Rock the Vote’s campaign will include a future series of ads featuring other artists with the messages such as “less ignorance/more education,” “less apathy/more empathy” and “less prejudice/more pride. 

In 1990, Madonna appeared draped in an American flag in a similar “Rock the Vote” public-service video telecast nationally. “Rock the Vote” has used music and popular culture to motivate young people to register and vote in every election since then.

(Reporting by Syantani Chatterjee)