Rocker Bruce Springsteen will stump for President Obama in western Pennsylvania Friday afternoon, less than one week after Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan campaigned in the region.
Springsteen is scheduled for a concert Friday evening at Consol Energy Park in Pittsburgh but will make a campaign appearance on behalf of the President’s reelection efforts in the city’s Oakland region at 2 PM.
The veteran recording artist is one of many entertainment industry celebrities pushing for a second Obama term. That list includes Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Longoria, Lena Dunham, Will.i.am, Bill Maher, Steven Spielberg, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Morgan Freeman. Despite this blitz from Hollywood’s A-Listers, Republican candidate Mitt Romney has overtaken Obama in national polling.
Neither campaign has dedicated many resources to Pennsylvania, long assumed to be a Democratic stronghold, but current polls show the race tightening between the presidential candidates, prompting Ryan’s visit last Saturday. The Wisconsin congressman appealed to the region’s energy sector, slamming the Obama administration’s environmental regulations and their effect on the coal industry.
The PA Department of State has revealed that Democrats have lost over 100,000 more registered voters than Republicans heading into the November election, so campaign events like Springsteen’s will become critical for the President to ensure high enough base turnout for a victory on election day.