On Tuesday Senator Barack Obama sealed the contest for the Democratic nomination. Today Hillary Clinton sent out an email stating that she will withdraw her candidacy from the race: “I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party’s nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.” Celebrities have lined up to loudly endorse Obama from the beginning of his run (though a few notable celebs have been in Clinton’s camp). In the last two days many of the Hollywood elite have spoken favorably about Obama, and it’s expected that countless more will do so in the next few months.

George Lucas:

Lucas was in Japan on Wednesday to promote his latest film, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” as Obama clinched the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

“We have a hero in the making back in the United States today because we have a new candidate for president of the United States, Barack Obama,” Lucas said when asked who his childhood heroes were.

Obama, “for all of us that have dreams and hope, is a hero,” Lucas said.

[From Yahoo News]

Oprah:

Oprah Winfrey says she is “euphoric” over Barack Obama clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.

“I’ve been doing the happy dance all day,” she tells Entertainment Tonight. Winfrey, 54, has been a staunch supporter of Obama from the beginning of his campaign.

“I’m so proud of Barack and Michelle Obama and what this means for all of us … the new possibilities for our country,” Winfrey says. The talk show host says she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get her candidate elected.

“If he wants me to,” she says, “I’m ready to go door to door.”

[From Us Weekly]

Gwyneth Paltrow:

“I don’t feel there’s any lip service with [Obama]. I don’t feel like he’s one of those jaded politicos who say one thing and are talking out of both sides of their mouth. I also feel we’ve done such damage to our reputation - and as someone who lives outside America for half the year, I overhear things that I wish I didn’t overhear. A lot of people in the West think that we’re not very sensitive to the rest of the world, and I think that having a president called Barack Hussein Obama in 2008 says that we are part of the world, and we don’t want to make unilateral decisions about the fate of all of us. I just pray to God that he wins.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar via The Huffington Post ]

Kate Walsh:

“I think this is a great movement in American history,” Walsh tells Us exclusively. “The American people want a change in their government and Barack Obama is the best person to lead and serve and bring about the real changes people want. I am thrilled.”

[From Us Weekly]

While people should certainly make up their own minds about who they’re going to vote for, right or wrong, celebrities can have an impact. Bill Clinton’s celeb connections were widely believed to positively impact his image in 1992. Obama seems to have gotten a massive amount of Hollywood support without directly courting it. The next five months will be very intense, and hopefully a time of great change.

Here’s Senator Barack Obama delivering a speech at the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) yesterday. As a result, he was officially unendorsed by Hamas. Photos from Barack Obama’s official Flickr photo stream.

I love Anderson Cooper. I love everything about him; he truly can do no wrong to me. With my incredible bias in mind, I have to say that I really enjoyed this clip of him that’s finding its way around the internet. Turns out the silver haired fox tries to use the word “Boo” – but apparently has no idea what it means.

Who WOULDN’T want to be Donna Brazile’s boo? Ahhh, politics. You really have no choice but to laugh at the smaller stuff. Anderson turned 41 yesterday (not that I pay attention to that stuff, mind you. Or that I’m a member of several fan clubs), but clearly is just as hip as ever.

An article in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair is set to expose former President Bill Clinton’s lurid sexual past – as if we didn’t already know about most of it. The article, written by Todd Purdum, who is married to former Clinton aide Dee Dee Myers – attacks Clinton, saying that his affairs and general Clintonian behavior have wrecked Hillary’s chances at the presidency.

One of the interesting revelations is that Clinton supposedly had an affair with actress Gina Gershon.

Over the last few years, aides have winced at repeated tabloid reports about Clinton’s episodic friendship and occasional dinners out with Belinda Stronach, a twice-divorced billionaire auto-parts heiress and member of the Canadian Parliament 20 years his junior, or at more recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California. There has been talk of a female friend in Chappaqua, a woman in a bar at a meeting of the Aspen Institute, and a public sighting of Clinton, Bing, and a ravishing entourage in a New York elevator that, a former Clinton aide told me, led a business leader who saw them to say: I don’t know what the guy was doing, but it was so clear that it was just no good.

[From Vanity Fair via Gossip Rocks]

I don’t think it’s any news that Bill’s a player. So much was made of the Clinton’s marriage during the Lewinsky sex scandal that there really isn’t much to say about it anymore. I don’t think many people believe they have a marriage of love, at least in the traditional romantic sense. It seems more that it’s a partnership, and Bill at least gets his love somewhere else. Who knows. But it seems like plenty of people have been able to support the former president politically while decided that his personal proclivities are his own affair. So to speak.

Clinton’s office issued an angry, 2,476 word rebuttal to Vanity Fair’s article, pointing out many of its holes. They also point out that the article fails to mention any of the good Clinton has done since leaving office through the William J. Clinton Foundation – which has been prolific. While they defend nearly every single accusation in Vanity Fair’s article, the only seemingly-important issue they don’t address is that of Clinton’s sexual dalliances. Considering the depth they went into, leaving something like that out says more than anything they could have said.

Clinton called writer Purdum “Sleazy” “Slimy” and a “Scumbag” when asked by Huffington Post reporter Mayhill Fowler if the Vanity Fair article was “weighing on his mind.” He pointed out that Purdum used fifty anonymous sources.

“Anytime you read a story that slimes a public figure with anonymous quotes, it oughta make the bells go off in your head. Because anytime somebody uses those things– he wrote the story in his head in advance, and he just goes around and tries to find some coward to say whatever they want to say, hoping to get some benefit out of it. It didn’t bother me. It shouldn’t bother you.”

[From the Huffington Post]

Clinton’s spokesman had to apologize on his behalf for the sleazy/slimy/scumbag comments. I don’t really blame him - so many anonymous sources is something you’d expect of some magazines, but certainly not Vanity Fair. It will be interesting to see if the article does significant damage to Hillary Clinton’s campaign - though several websites are claiming she’ll be dropping out of the race any day now, regardless of the article.

Header of Gina Gershon at the Icons Of Music II auction in New York City on May 31st and Bill Clinton leaving his hotel the way to a benefit fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in Dublin on November 17th. Images thanks to WENN.

Remember that voicemail message that Alec Baldwin left for his-then 12 year-old daughter, Ireland, in which he sounded like a mafia kingpin telling her she had insulted him for the last time and calling her a thoughtless little pig? (Here’s a Dora the Explorer mashup with the voicemail created by Funny Or Die in case you missed it.)

Baldwin was on 60 Minutes last night and Morley Safer specifically asked him about the voicemail message, which was leaked a little over a year ago. You could see Baldwin’s temper starting to mildly flare in his response to Morley, in which he took the question as a personal affront and told him he had a judgmental tone.

On his nasty voicemail message to his daughter

Alec: You get so frustrated and you realize number one, and it’s wrong, it’s totally wrong, that I was really speaking to somebody else when I left that message. I mean, I was past, I was putting up with this for six years.

Morley: But you weren’t talking to another person. You were talking to your daughter, a kid. You said “you thoughtless little pig” I mean I find it hard to utter the words.

Alec: Did you ever lose your temper with your kids?

Morley: Yeah, but nothing like that.

Alec: If you’re asking me, do I feel bad about leaving that message. I think that goes without saying. At the same time [acting pissed] I’m pretty overwhelmed by the sanctimoniousness of people who say that I mean I got so many phonecalls from people who seem as learned and sober and together as you are, who all said to me “Man, I’m glad they didn’t tape some of the things I said to my kids.”

Morley: As appalling as what you said may be even more appalling may be that it was released by someone.

Alec: That tells you what I’m dealing with. Listen, you use words like appalled and you have, if I may say so, a pretty judgmental tone of me. I think that as truly sorry as I am that that happened, to me it only illustrates how difficult this process has become for many many people.

[Transcribed from 60 Minutes interview aired 5/11/08, video below]

We reported on Saturday that Alec said he would consider running for office and said that “it’s something I might do one day.”

Baldwin laughed while he repeated the words of Hillary Clinton in 1998 in which she said there was a “Vast right-wing conspiracy” against her husband, President Bill Clinton. (This was when she tried to diffuse public perception of Lewinsky scandal before it was known that Bill was guilty as charged.)

He said that the conservatives are “after him” and that they “hate liberals.” As for his much-repeated statement that he would move out of the US if Bush was elected, he claims he didn’t say that. What he said was that it “might be a good time to leave” if Bush won, which he maintains is quite different:

On the vast right wing conspiracy against him

“They hate liberals who can throw a punch,” Baldwin tells Safer.

Asked who “they” are, Baldwin says, “They, yeah, this…they. The vast right wing conspiracy that’s after me…”

The right went wild when it was reported he said he’d move out of the country if George Bush were elected.

“I never said that,” Baldwin says. “I said, ‘It might be a good time to leave the country.’ There’s a big difference between that and promising to leave the country. And even if I did, who cares? What difference would that make in anyone lives, you know?”

“Your eloquence, if that’s the word, can get you into deep trouble,” Safer remarks.

“So I don’t make the eloquent point so eloquently, is that what you’re saying?” Baldwin asks.

“Or you make them perhaps excessively eloquent, as in your description of Dick Cheney, who you said was a sociopath and a terrorist. And you later apologized by just calling him a lying, thieving oil whore and a murderer of the U.S. Constitution,” Safer replies.

“You know, all the cameramen are cracking up. So, there is an audience out there. It may only be five or six men,” Baldwin says.

[From CBSNews.com]

A lot of people agree with Baldwin, and a lot of people think he should keep his mouth shut. Either way, he’s definitely a character. Baldwin is writing a book about divorce and parental alienation to help other men who are being shut out of their children’s lives by their ex wives. A possible career in politics may also be in his future. He’s sure to bring more of that spitfire personality to whatever he does, and it serves him well in his acting career but may be more of a liability in a public service role.

Alec on his voicemail message:

Alec on the vast right wing conspiracy against him:

Baldwin is shown in the header on 5/7/08 at the opening night of “Top Girls” thanks to WENN.

Many an actor has made a failed – and generally embarrassing – attempt at a second career. The most notorious examples of this generally involve anyone putting out an album. But here and there you find a failed clothing line or a ridiculous attempt at dancing. But once in a while, an actor successfully crosses over the threshold into a successful second career. And for whatever reason, they seem to have the most luck in politics. Probably because their egos serve them well in the political arena. Alec Baldwin gave an interview to 20/20 which airs this Sunday night, and in it he says he’s considering running for public office.

Alec Baldwin says he’s ready to be Mr. Nice Guy - and he’s mulling a run for public office. The Massapequa, L.I., entertainer, eldest of the four Baldwin brothers turned actors, says in an interview airing Sunday that politics looks appealing now that he’s turned the corner on 50. “There’s other things I want to do,” besides acting, the left-leaning performer tells CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “There’s no age limit on running for office, to a degree.” It is “something I might do one day,” he said.

Discussing his public divorce from Kim Basinger and the custody battle that led to an angry voicemail to daughter Ireland Eliesse, calling her “a thoughtless little pig,” Baldwin said he is learning something about tact. “You can pretty much bet all you own that I would never leave another voicemail message for my daughter that wasn’t just like something out of a Rodgers and Hammerstein score,” said the “30 Rock” actor.

Over the years, Baldwin has done little to hide his brand of politics. He has called Dick Cheney a terrorist, then said the vice president wasn’t a terrorist but rather “a lying, thieving oil whore and murderer of the U.S. Constitution.”

[From the New York Daily News]

I came down pretty hard on Alec after the whole calling his daughter a pig fiasco. But that was before I ever watched 30 Rock. And now that I’ve seen it, I can say that I really am spineless enough to love Alec Baldwin no matter what the hell he does. He’s THAT good in it. Rarely do I admit I am wrong, but he can call any kid any name he wants, for all I care. And I’m pretty sure if I’d turn this quickly just because he’s a good actor, there’s a pretty decent chance I’d vote for him too. Sad.

Header of Alec Baldwin attending the opening night of ‘Top Girls’ at the Biltmore Theatre in New York City on May 7th. Images thanks to WENN.

Tom Hanks says that he endorses Barack Obama because of his integrity, honesty and ability to get the job done. He recorded a YouTube statement that is full of historical references and clear reasons why he supports Senator Obama’s bid for the presidency. He says that Obama took the high road and is someone who has the characteristics we look for in a president with personal qualities that are found in great leaders of the past like FDR and John F. Kennedy. Hanks says that Obama can turn the country around, and he quipped that of course we’ve made up our mind after hearing his endorsement.

For those of you who say that Obama is all impressive rhetoric but is unclear about his policies, read his Blueprint for Change on his website, which very clearly outlines his plan. He does have a very good health plan that is not free but affordable, and includes measures to make it available to all. He has specific plans to cut taxes, revive the economy and jobs, and stop predatory lending by credit cards and banks. He also proposes to make all government transactions and spending public and searchable, and will strive to stop the influence of lobbyists in Washington.

Obama just won the North Carolina primary, with 57% of the popular vote. In preliminary results, Clinton won Indiana by less than two percentage points. Indiana has only 72 delegates as compared to North Carolina’s 115, which means that Obama is still ahead and that things look desperate for Hillary. There are just 6 primaries remaining.

Barack Obama is shown below on 4/1/08 in a Town Hall meeting at the Dumore Community Centre in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, thanks to WENN.

Obama read the top ten list on David Letterman last night, which was the “Top Ten Surprising Facts about Barack Obama.” Obama was on via satellite and recited the list with a smile, which was predictably cheesy but well delivered:

10. My first act as president will be to stop the fighting between Lauren and Heidi on “The Hills”
9. In the Illinois primary, I accidentally voted for Kucinich
8. When I tell my kids to clean their room, I finish with, “I’m Barack Obama and I approved this message”
7. Throughout high school, I was consistently voted “Barackiest”
6. Earlier today I bowled a 39
5. I have canceled all my appearances the day the “Sex and The City” movie opens
4. It’s the birth place of Fred Astaire (Sorry, that’s a surprising fun fact about Omaha)
3. We are tirelessly working to get the endorsement of Kentucky Derby favorite Colonel John
2. This has nothing to do with the Top Ten, but what the heck is up with Paula Abdul?
1. I have not slept since October
[From CBS.com]

Obama is gradually getting positive press again after a controversy involving his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who spouted ridiculous conspiracy theories in sermons leaked online and was generally mocked in the media. Obama has denounced Wright’s statements after initially hoping that the issue would die down on its own. He is now neck and neck with has about a 200 delegate lead over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary after a wider early lead.

Hillary was on The O’Reilly Factor on Fox yesterday, and she said that voters would decide if the Rev. Wright controversy mattered to them. She called Wright’s remarks “offensive and outrageous.”

Obama’s segment starts at about a minute into the clip below:

Former porn actress Jenna Jameson says her new movie “Zombie Stripper” is actually really political. No I’m not taking her remarks out of context. I love that she made a big deal about leaving porn, but her first non-pornographic film is about strippers. I know it’s not the same thing… but it’s not like she’s really taking an acting leap is it? Jenna says the film is awesome, and a lot deeper than the title would imply.

She went on the TV show The View to promote her new film Zombie Strippers, starring Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund. Here is what she said about the film:

“There’s a lot of political undertones against the Bush administration. And that’s part of the reason why I did the movie. I kind of fancy myself a political girl.”

Heh, Zombie Strippers is about “a secret government re-animation chemo-virus that gets released into a Nebraska strip club. The virus begins to spread, turning the strippers into ‘Super Zombie Strippers.’”

[From 2Snaps]

You know, I say a lot of bad things about the Bush administration, but I’m pretty damn sure I’d stop myself from accusing them of injecting viruses into Nevada strip clubs to turn strippers into super zombie strippers. A California club, maybe. Definitely New York. But I don’t think there’s any way they’d bother with Nevada.

The sad thing is, this looks so incredibly terrible that I really want to see it. I’m also curious to find out if Jenna Jameson actually shows up on film anymore. The poor girl has practically wasted away. I’m fairly certain I’ll be able to spot her boobs and over-inflated lips, but I think they’ll probably just look like floating body parts. Maybe that’s why they turned it into a zombie film. It explains Jenna’s look a lot better.

Here’s Jenna Jameson at the “Zombie Strippers” Los Angeles Premiere on Tuesday. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Update by Celebitchy: Here’s Jenna on The View. She really holds her own and the atmosphere is uncomfortable throughout most of the interview.

Democratic presidential nomination hopeful Senator Barack Obama was on “The View” this morning and had an amazing interview. The first part of the interview focused on Obama’s longtime reverend, Jeremiah Wright, and the anti-American comments Wright has made over the course of his career. Obama hasn’t renounced Wright, but hasn’t wholeheartedly defended him either. He explained that when he joined the church, he didn’t have his revered vetted. Wright was a powerful speaker and Obama was generally just another member of the congregation. He and his wife Michelle were married in Wright’s church and their daughters were baptized there, but as he pointed out, he hadn’t read every church bulletin, or gone over Wright’s old sermons. He also pointed out that a key point is that Wright is retired now, so it’s not as though there needs to be a call for him to step down from anything. Obama did a good job of gracefully walking a very fine line.

In the second part of the interview, host Whoopi Goldberg ask Barack Obama what the first three things are that he’d do in office. Obama replied that he would start withdrawing the troops from Iraq, and doing his best to make sure it was done in a safe and fair manner for both the troops and Iraqis. He said he didn’t think the Iraqis were going to take responsibility for their own country as long as American troops were there. Obama said the second thing he would do is work on getting healthcare for every American, and even went so far to say that for people that didn’t have healthcare, the government would offer plans similar to the healthcare he has as a senator. He pointed out how important it is to return to a focus on preventative health care, which over the long-term saves costs. Finally he said he’d deal with America’s energy crisis, focusing on developing new technology to lesson our reliance on foreign oil.

Some of Obama’s most powerful remarks came in the final part of the interview, where he talked about the differences and similarities between republicans and democrats. He noted, “I am not somebody who believes that the democrats have a monopoly on wisdom,” and said that he would consider having republicans in his cabinet. He also made a dig at President Bush, saying, “I’ve got some very strong views about how we need to move the country forward, but I don’t presume I’m right all the time; I want to listen to people – something that I think our current president hasn’t done – [and] get a diversity of opinion.” Obama also touched on one of his common themes of optimism and hope, and the unity he feels Americans actually have, noting, “The one thing I’m convinced of as I travel around the country is we have so much more in common than what drives us apart.”

Ben Affleck and wife Jennifer Garner were in the Boston area over the weekend to host and appear at a fundraising dinner for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Affleck has never been one to shy away from political causes– he and buddy/co-star Matt Damon campaigned in favor fair health benefits for labor unions back in 2004 and Ben not only appeared on the Bill O’Reilly show, but held his own against the host. Affleck told O’Reilly during that broadcast that he is a social liberal but didn’t consider himself a Democratic “party guy.” But since meeting Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention on Boston, Affleck has become a big fan of the candidate.

They may have been drawn by a chance to meet Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, but the hearts of the 450 people who packed Rumor last night belonged to one man: Barack Obama. The sold-out fund-raiser at the Theater District nightclub was hosted by the Hollywood power couple to rally support for Obama’s bid to win the White House. “I’m here because I’m trying to raise money for a campaign and a candidacy that I believe in,” Affleck told the media shortly after hopping out of a black Chevy Suburban with his wife and his mom, Chris. “I’m just trying to do my part.” Affleck met the Illinois senator when they were both in Boston for the 2004 Democratic National Convention and said his “admiration of [Obama] has grown” since. The Oscar winner seemed particularly proud to participate in a gathering that regular folks could go to, noting “it’s not a $1,500-a-plate event for the elite.” (Tickets were $250 for a VIP reception and $50 for the main party.) Among those spotted were Senator John Kerry and his wife, Teresa, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein ’s brother Paul and his wife, Saskia Grinberg, and Wellness Community-Greater Boston CEO Ron Lipof. The politically savvy Affleck, who has donated at least $4,600 to Obama’s campaign according to public records, wasn’t going to be drawn into the recent flaps between Obama and Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, who won the Massachusetts primary. “This is not about casting aspersions,” the “Gone Baby Gone” director said. “If I were to choose between the two, it would be Barack.” Garner stayed above the political fray, saying she really likes Boston and “would move here in a heartbeat, but it’s six hours from where I work.” But Garner, who’s in town filming “The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” quickly corrected herself saying, “Whoops, I’m working here at the moment.”

[From Boston.com]

I liked that Ben chose to throw this fundraiser in his hometown instead of Hollywood. It would have been so easy for Ben and Jen to turn this into a Tinseltown glamour event, but instead, he decided to keep it a little more low-key and focus more on the candidate than his own star power. My only complain was that his new life partner, Jimmy Kimmel, couldn’t make an appearance.

Pictures of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were taken on Sunday outside Rumer nightclub where the fundraiser for Obama took place, thanks to Splash News.