When author Buzz Bissinger and Clueless actress Stacey Dash, both former Obama backers, came out for Team Romney, it was a reminder that swing voters don’t exist only in Ohio—the creative industries have them, too! Here, eight other prominent persons with shifting electoral allegiances.
Lindsay Lohan, actress
2008: Endorses Barack Obama on MySpace.
2012: Tells reporters on October 11 that concerns over unemployment have her backing Mitt Romney, “as of now.”
2012: While watching the final debate, asks Twitter followers to “RT if you’re #ProudOfObama as our commander in chief.”
Heidi Montag, reality star
2008: Declares intention to vote for John McCain to Us Weekly.
2009: Photographed wearing a “Barack’n N Baroll’n” T-shirt.
Don King, boxing promoter
2004: “People understand thatGeorge Walker Bush is the man with the plan to make America better. Sometimes, just sometimes, it ain’t too bad to be in the Bushes.” (Speaking at a Philadelphia jazz club.)
2008: “Try to think of your beloved country America and what’s best for Miss Liberty. Then try not to think of Barack Obamaas a black man but as an American fighting for what’s best for your children and your country.” (In an e-mail to reporters.)
Elizabeth Taylor, actress
1980: Appears at Republican National Convention with Nancy Reagan.
2008: Flacks for Hillary Clinton ahead of decisive Democratic primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. “We all know what she’s about. We know what she isn’t. Senator Clinton is not a flibbertigibbet. She’s strong.”
Mike Love, Beach Boy
1984: Plays fund-raiser at RNC.
1992: Endorses Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Natural Law Party. “We like George Bush as a person and have supported him in the past,” he tells the L.A. Times. “But on the environment, we have to part.”
2008: Plays the McCain fund-raiser where the candidate infamously croons, “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.”
Frank Sinatra, singer and actor
1960: Barnstorms for John F. Kennedy, for whom he records a version of his campaign theme. Eight years later, tapes an ad for Hubert Humphrey.
1972: “The older you get, the more conservative you get” is how he describes his endorsement of Nixon to his daughter Tina, who does work for the McGovern campaign.
Elvis Presley, the King
1956: “I’m strictly for [Adlai] Stevenson. I don’t dig the intellectual bit, but I’m telling you, man, he knows the most.”
1972: Tells Nixon “I’m on your side” during an Oval Office visit in which he presents the president with a Colt .45 handgun as a gift.
Al Jolson, singer
1920: Writes song for Warren Harding and serves as celebrity face of Harding’s famous “front porch” campaign. Four years later, pens a ditty for Calvin Coolidge.
1932: Stumps for FDR—who gets his campaign song from a different musician.
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