E-Paper
Springsteen to perform in Ohio Sunday with Obama
Fabled US rocker Bruce Springsteen will join Democrat Barack Obama for a rally in Ohio this weekend just prior to the historic presidential election, Obama's campaign said.
Fabled US rocker Bruce Springsteen will join Democrat Barack Obama for a rally in Ohio this weekend just prior to the historic presidential election, Obama's campaign said.
One of the nation's most celebrated musicians will perform tomorrow in front of what is likely to be a huge crowd at an afternoon rally in Cleveland with Obama and the Democrat's wife Michelle.
"At the Cleveland rally, special guest Bruce Springsteen will perform an acoustic set and encourage supporters to turn out at the polls in record numbers in support of Obama," a campaign statement said yesterday.
The rally will be one of three Sunday by Obama in Ohio -- the others will be in Columbus and Cincinnati -- as the Illinois senator bids to bury Republican rival John McCain's hopes of a comeback in the must-win state.
Springsteen, known as "The Boss", held a fundraising concert with singer Billy Joel on October 16 in New York as he stepped up his drive to help Obama secure victory in Tuesday's election.
His song "The Rising" is always played at rallies as Obama takes the stage.
Renowned for his gritty parables of American working-class life, Springsteen wrote in April that Obama was the best candidate to lead a "great American reclamation project" to mend the "terrible damage" of Republican rule.
The rocker objected bitterly to Republican president Ronald Reagan's use of his anthem "Born in the USA" at 1980s campaign rallies. The song is actually an angry denunciation of society's treatment of returning Vietnam War veterans.
Springsteen, and Obama, will be hoping that their Ohio gig portends a better outcome than befell the Democrats' 2004 nominee, John Kerry.
