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Ben Affleck: Political activism
In the final hectic weeks of Campaign 2000, no celebrity worked harder for the Democratic ticket than Ben Affleck. The 28-year-old Academy Award winner crisscrossed the country in support of Al Gore, repeatedly delivering a get-out-the-vote plea: "It's very important to vote. The president will appoint three or four Supreme Court justices."
During the final week of the race, Affleck stumped for Gore in California, Florida, and Pennsylvania. During a stop in Pittsburgh, the star--along with
Helen Hunt,
Martin Sheen,
Rob Reiner and other actors--spent an hour at a phone bank calling registered Democrats. "People in my generation have a low voter turnout. One of the reasons that I'm here is to demonstrate that no matter who you are going to vote for...I think it's important to get involved and get out and vote," Affleck told reporters. "But I'm going to tell people to vote for Gore."
On October 28, 2000, Affleck flew with the First Lady (Hillary Clinton) to Ithaca, New York, where he introduced her at a Cornell University rally. Affleck told the college crowd that Clinton had been advocating for women and working families since "Rick Lazio was running around the frat house in his underwear." Lazio, then a Long Island congressman, was Clinton's Republican opponent.
On Monday, November 6, the final day of the campaign, Affleck was one of several A-list celebrities summoned to Miami Beach by Miramax Films boss Harvey Weinstein for a late-night Gore rally, just hours before polls opened nationwide. The Gore campaign's last event, a final effort to energize South Beach voters, didn't end until about 1 AM, but Affleck still had one more piece of campaigning to do. He flew back to New York that morning and made a surprise live appearance on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. It was 10:15 when the groggy actor made his final public pitch from a Rockefeller Center studio, noting that he was "a little bit tired...I've been out getting involved, doing stuff and trying to get people to vote. And that's why I came by here." Also, "Today is the get-out-the-vote day and...I think this is the time to get involved, especially the young folks who are here ... I'm about to go vote," Affleck then said, adding later, "I am personally gonna vote for Al Gore."
As returns came in that night, Affleck told Salon's Amy Reiter, "I'm nervous this evening, but one of the things that's exciting to me is the amount of people who voted. No matter who wins, I think it's a healthy thing for our country that so many voters have come out and participated in the process. Either way, I think the most important number will be the turnout." The shocker? As The Smoking Gun later discovered, Affleck himself had never bothered to vote.
In the May 2001 issue of GQ, Affleck says, "My fantasy is that someday I'm independently wealthy enough that I'm not beholden to anybody, so I can run for Congress on the grounds that everyday people--be they singers or poets or bankers or lawyers or teachers--should be in government."
In the March 2003 issue of Vanity Fair, Affleck again floats the possibility of a future run for Congress. "I think there's a real nobility to public service," he told the magazine. "It would be fun to run on a platform I really believed in, without being beholden to the win-at-all-costs mentality."
In 2004, Affleck actively campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. During the first day of the Democratic Convention, Affleck was featured on
Larry King Live with Tucker Carlson and Al Sharpton.
Larry King asked Affleck if he would consider running for office, and Affleck admitted to contemplating the proposition. He noted that the line between politics and entertainment is becoming increasingly blurry, as Ronald Reagan,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill O'Reilly, and
Rush Limbaugh all came from the entertainment business.
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