Posted on 03/26/2004 7:56:39 AM PST by Hillary's Lovely Legs
George Clooney has a lot riding on a Kentucky derby this year - the horse race for the congressional seat in the state's fourth district.
George's father, Nick, a former TV-news anchorman, is the Democratic candidate for the seat, and he's been getting a lot of help from his famous son.
Earlier this month, the "Ocean's 11" heartthrob raised $200,000 for his dad's campaign at his home in Studio City, Calif., after jokingly promising that he would put on a toga and wash the car of everybody who contributed $500.
And just last weekend, George got on a private jet and flew into Kentucky for a whirlwind weekend of fund-raising. When he left, his dad's campaign was another $200,000 richer.
But that hefty dose of Hollywood star power might actually be hurting Nick's chances in this ultra-conservative suburban district, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.
"George's involvement is really a mixed bag for his father," says Patrick Crowley, who's covering the campaign for the Cincinnati Enquirer.
"On the one hand, he can raise a lot of money. But the Republicans are going to hammer Nick with the liberal thing."
The actor famously called George W. Bush "dim" in a GQ interview and told Charlie Rose that the war in Iraq was "the dumbest thing my country could have done."
That's why the race has been dubbed "Hollywood vs. the heartland."
Nick's opponent, who will be chosen in a three-way Republican primary this May, will likely emphasize George's left-wing politics, Crowley predicts, even though Nick's are actually more moderate. Nick, 69, was against the war in Iraq and supports some gun-control measures, but, Crowley says, "he is hardly the flaming, Ted Kennedy type."
Still, it will be tough to convince the people in this 24-county district to vote for a Democrat. They elected nothing but Republicans from the early 1960s to 1998, and only voted for their current congressman, Democrat Ken Lucas, after he successfully painted his opponent as a Christian Coalition extremist.
Lucas, who has pledged that he would only stay in office for six years, is a very conservative Democrat who didn't attend his party's convention in 1999 because of his deep dislike for Al Gore. He only narrowly defeated manufacturing consultant Geoff Davis in his 2002 re-election bid - and Davis is currently the front-runner for the Republican slot, ahead of attorney Kevin Murphy and chiropractor John Kelly King.
"It speaks for itself that he's had to turn to Hollywood money this early," sniffs Davis. "We raised the money the old-fashioned way." But Bob Doyle, Clooney's campaign consultant, laughed off Davis' criticism.
"[Davis] really needs to get a handle on his own candidacy," he said, adding that the district's voters expect a candidate's son to be involved in the race.
"We're not going to apologize for it."
Nick has plenty of name recognition in his own right - as a broadcast journalist, newspaper columnist and TV talk show host.
But George's fame is on a completely different level - making it the great intangible in his father's race.
"In 15 years of political reporting, I've never seen anything quite like this," Crowley says.
"I'm getting all these women asking me about the race, saying 'Isn't it exciting?' and 'Isn't George handsome?'
"The George factor will definitely have an effect on the race," Crowley adds. "The Republicans are spooked about it."
Yeah, that's a good reason to vote for Nick Clooney -- because he has a good-looking son. Glad to see these female voters have their priorities straight. (/sarcasm)
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