Film legend Clint Eastwood claims that Hollywood’s image as a Democratic bastion is exaggerated - but the evidence says otherwise, with stars like George Clooney leading an A-list Obama cast.The, Dirty Harry, star - whose talking-to-an-empty-chair routine stole the show at the Republican convention - issued another endorsement for Mitt Romney last week, warns: “There is not much time left ... our country is at stake.”But while his high-profile backing is no doubt welcomed by Republicans - even if his August skit wasn’t quite what they expected - he is a lonely figure among Hollywood’s big-hitters in backing the conservative candidate. The list of President Barack Obama’s celebrity supporters includes Clooney, Robert De Niro, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman and Robert Redford - and that’s just a fraction of the A-listers.“Hollywood actors still do lean toward liberalism and the Democratic Party,” Steven Ross, a University of Southern California professor and author of “Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics,” told AFP.Eastwood, now 82, insisted this was not the case, when he made his infamous appearance at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, shortly before Romney formally accepted his party’s nomination.“I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, what’s a movie tradesman doing out here? You know they are all left-wingers out there, left of Lenin,” he told his conservative audience.He explained: “It’s just that the conservative people, by the nature of the word itself, play it a little more close to the vest. They don’t go around hot-dogging it. .. But they’re there, believe me, they’re there.”As Obama and Romney battle down to the wire ahead of the November 6 election, the money is important in itself.But equally important is the star power it brings to the commander-in-chief, who is battling for airtime and exposure that is not simply another rally in the exhausting home stretch of the 2012 election race.Oscar-winning Thelma and Louise actress Susan Sarandon told AFP: “I’ve gotten to the point where I’m very unemotionally involved, actually.“It kind of feels like if Obama doesn’t get in and everything falls apart, maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be, in order for us to rebuild it. I’m going to vote, I’ve contributed in many ways but it’s not going to kill me.” AFP
