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Posted: February 4, 2008 5:26 PM
Obama and Friends Make Coast-to-Coast Pitch to Feb. 5 Voters
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With polls showing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama closing in on front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., the Illinois Democrat dispersed his celebrity supporters across the country to help him pick up last-second votes.

Obama supporters are lending their famous faces (and voices) to a new nation-wide ad featuring a new song written with the lyrics of one of Obama’s most famous speeches. The video, “Yes We Can,” features dozens of young actors and singers, including John Legend, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Walsh and Will.i.Am.

Should a Californian miss the stars on YouTube, no worries, they will probably get a call.

Johansson voices one of the robo-calls urging Californians to head to the polls. “Imagine helping to elect a candidate who will turn a page on the polarizing politics of the past,” she says.

Saturday, Oprah Winfrey appeared with Obama’s wife Michelle and former President John F. Kennedy’s daughter Caroline in Los Angeles to spread a get-out-the-vote message to Californians, while Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry campaigned in Washington State and California holding change we can believe in rallies.

The Obama campaign’s focus on the Golden State underscores the critical role of the state where 370 delegates will be awarded Tuesday in a complicated, district-by-district contest.

A Real Clear Politics polling average released recently shows the two candidates in a dead heat in the state: Both with 40 percent support.

Although his star-studded campaign team is crisscrossing California, the senator himself was focusing on the East Coast with stops in Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts Monday.

A USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday has Clinton with 45 percent national support and Obama with 44 percent.

This national bounce that followed his victory in South Carolina and endorsements by top-ranking Democrats has happened in many states, showing huge increases for Obama, who was leading in only four states last week, according to CBS News.

Along with his poll numbers, the media’s reporting on his policy statements and record is also on the rise.

“From nukes to guns, the Illinois senator is getting some scrutiny on the issue front. It’s unclear if any of this penetrates the electorate before tomorrow, but going into the post-February 5 campaign, one can see how it could be Obama under the microscope instead of the Clintons — a change from the last two weeks,” wrote “Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro of MSNBC.

But core to the candidate’s campaign is what happens after Super Tuesday. Already the Obama campaign, which announced a $32 million haul for the month of January, is allocating their new funds to media buys in post-super Tuesday states.

“The Obama ads are believed to be the first of the 2008 campaign to air locally in Washington state,” the Seattle Times reported. “The campaign will now air ads targeting voters in Washington, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska and Virginia — all states that have caucuses or primaries during the week after Super Tuesday.